18-Env-B6 Agricultural Waste Management · May 2018
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
National Exams, May 2018 — 04-Env-B6, Agricultural Waste Management (3 hours, open book, all 16 questions to be attempted, 100 marks total).
Reference texts: Rynk et al., On-Farm Composting Handbook (NRAES-54); OMAFRA, Nutrient Management Act, 2002 and O. Reg. 267/03 / Nutrient Management Protocol (NMAN); Metcalf & Eddy, Wastewater Engineering (anaerobic digestion chapter); ASABE Standards (manure storage, land application equipment); Ontario Environmental Protection Act and Ontario Water Resources Act; Canada–Ontario Lake Erie Action Plan / Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement Annex 4.
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
a. GNF — Greenhouse Nutrient Feedwater. The nutrient-laden water discharged from a closed-loop recirculating greenhouse irrigation system; regulated under O. Reg. 300/14 (the GNF Regulation) made under the Nutrient Management Act, 2002, which sets storage, transport and land-application rules for this material, distinct from livestock manure.
b. P₂O₅ — Phosphorus pentoxide. The oxide-equivalent unit conventionally used to express AVAILABLE phosphate in fertilizer and manure nutrient reporting (the "available P₂O₅" figure computed in Question 12); elemental %P is converted to this basis by the Section C factor (×0.92) shown in that question.
c. CM1 — (Metal) Category 1 material. A regulated-metal-content classification for Non-Agricultural Source Materials under O. Reg. 267/03 (Nutrient Management Protocol, Table 2): a material qualifies as CM1 when its content of the 11 regulated heavy metals does not exceed the (lower, more stringent) CM1 threshold, as opposed to the higher CM2 threshold that allows more restricted uses.
d. ASM — Agricultural Source Material. Manure, compost of agricultural source materials, and similar materials generated by an agricultural operation on the farm where it is applied — the defined counterpart to NASM (Non-Agricultural Source Material, Question 3/14), which is imported from off the farm and therefore subject to additional approval and testing requirements that ASM is not.
e. EPA — Environmental Protection Act. Ontario's general environmental statute (Question 15), which prohibits discharges causing an adverse effect and governs spills reporting for a manure release.
