About

Biosolids Land Application Site Tracking

Biosolids result from the treatment of sewage sludge produced in a wastewater treatment facility. When applied to land at the appropriate agronomic rate (and meeting federal and state quality requirements), biosolids provide a number of benefits including nutrient addition, improved soil structure, and enhanced moisture retention. Land application of biosolids also can have economic and waste management benefits (e.g., conservation of landfill space; recycling a waste product; reducing the demand for synthetic fertilizers and non-renewable resources like phosphorus; and reducing the overall farm cost for fertilizers).

Iowa Biosolids Land Application Site Tracking system, acronym iBlast, provides biosolids land application site information for major wastewater treatment facilities. Major wastewater treatment facilities are those treatment works with a design flow rate of 1 million gallons per day or greater and treatment works that serve 10,000 people or more.

iBlast is a GIS database representing each biosolids land application site information including location, field size, total amount of biosolids applied per year, agronomic loading rate, and others. The purpose for this GIS data map is to provide a tracking tool for the public about where biosolids are applied in the State of Iowa.