Maryland weighs delay, changes in farm pollution regulation

Maryland agriculture officials are weighing the delay or easing a 4-year-old regulation aimed at curbing farm pollution of the Chesapeake Bay after farmers and municipal sewage treatment plant operators said they need more time to comply – or want out from under it altogether. Under the regulation, neither animal manure nor treated sewage sludge, known as biosolids, may be spread on farm fields during the winter.  The ban was adopted because crops don’t grow in cold weather and wouldn’t take up the fertilizer then, making it more likely to wash off into nearby water ways and ultimately the Bay. The rule was adopted in 2012, but its effective date was delayed until July 1 to give farmers and wastewater utilities more time to build facilities to store the manure or sludge until it could be applied to fields in spring. Small farmers and small community sewage plants still have another four years – until 2020 – to comply.