SLUDGE VICTIMS

OAKVILLE -- Back in the shade, aging dog Max chews on an old bone, hiding from a midday sun. Overhead, swings bop down from the tall willow trees of Allan and Laurie Eagles' rural property, Near a back fence, a line of horses slowly march riders toward a neighbouring farm and a likely lunch. But there's something in the air. Something not quite right. Something the Eag!es have never gotten used to.

There are days, especially when the nearby fields of corn are harvested and there's no breeze, that the Eagles say you can hardly stand to be out in this country yard because of the stink.

And so it's all hit the fan over the Halton municipal sewage sludge and biosolid station, built just beyond the nearby treeline -- an estimated 700 metres from where Max chews on his bone.

Laurie, 44, a nuclear medicine technologist at the Brampton Hospital, and Allan, 50, a Toronto police officer, have launched a $2-million lawsuit against Halton Region and some Hamilton companies, including Azurix North America (Canada) Corp., contracted to manage the W.A. Bill Johnson Biosolids Management Centre.

The legal fight is starting just as Halton Region decided to renew a contract with Azurix to continue running the site.

Secluded, with only a few other homes to the west, the Eagles' property should be a haven. But the suit alleges for years they've been under siege from odours from the nearby biosolid centre.

"Our children have had to stand, waiting for the school bus, plugging their noses so they don't throw up," says Allan, looking toward the distant domes of the plant, which create biosolids - nutrient-rich organic material used as fertilizer - out of sewage. "It'll drop you to your knees."

On this day, unless you draw in deep, you hardly notice a thing. "But when you invite people over, it's ... Russian roulette with the stench," explains Laurie.

The couple's children, 12-year--old Tara and 10-year-old Jack, are also named as plaintiffs -- say they have been held prisoners by the foul odours that, depending on the elements, push into their backyard.

They've owned this land since 1983 -- three years before the containment facility went on line.