Characterization of three common land-applied wastes: Inorganic, organic, and microbial compositions of biosolid, livestock, and drilling fluid waste, United States, 2021 and 2022

It is common practice for waste byproducts generated from the treatment of municipal waste (biosolids), livestock production (manure), and oil and gas drilling operations (spent drill fluids and cuttings) to be applied to farmland as a cost-effective means of disposal. From June 2021 to January 2022, 34 samples of land-applied waste materials were collected in 14 U.S. states. Samples were collected from 10 municipal wastewater treatment plants, 11 animal feeding operations, and 13 oil and gas development sites. Selected sites were considered representative of similar waste generating operations across the U.S. in terms of biological treatment methods and volume of waste generated, the number and type of animals on feed, and rotary drilling operations that used water-based fluids and (or) oil-based fluids.