Editing Sewage sludge (section)

=== Pollutant ceiling concentration ===
The term "pollutant" is defined as part of the EPA 503 rule. The components of sludge have pollutant limits defined by the EPA. "A Pollutant is an organic substance, an inorganic substance, a combination of organic and inorganic substances, or a pathogenic organism that, after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into an organism either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through the food chain, could, on the basis of information available to the Administrator of EPA, cause [[death]], [[disease]], [[mental disorders|behavioral abnormalities]], [[cancer]], [[teratogens|genetic mutations]], [[physiological malfunctions]] (including malfunction in [[sexual reproduction|reproduction]]), or [[deformity|physical deformations]] in either organisms or [[birth defect|offspring of the organisms]]."<ref name="CFR2010">{{cite report |title=Code of Federal Regulations |issue=29 |volume=40 |access-date=1 June 2017 |chapter=503.9 |chapter-url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2010-title40-vol29/pdf/CFR-2010-title40-vol29-sec503-9.pdf |website=[[United States Government Publishing Office|GPO]]}}</ref>
The maximum component pollutant limits by the US EPA are:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Pollutant!! Ceiling concentration (mg per kg)
|-
|[[Cadmium]]||85
|-
|[[Copper]]||4300
|-
|[[Lead]]||840
|-
|[[Mercury (element)|Mercury]]||57
|-
|[[Molybdenum]]||75
|-
|[[Nickel]]||420
|-
|[[Selenium]]||100
|-
|[[Zinc]]||7500
|}