VALPARAISO | Some farm fields are going to get a little extra iron in their diet thanks to a contract approved Tuesday by the city's Utilities Board.

Iron and manganese removed from the city's water supply over the years are collected in a lagoon at each of the water plant locations. The minerals settle, and the water is allowed to flow into a nearby stream. About every 15 years the reddish-brown mineral sludge has to be hauled away.

George Brown, water operations leader, said the Flint Lake sludge has to be removed this year, and the lagoon at the airport treatment plant probably will have to be cleaned out in 2008.

The board agreed to hire Merrill Brothers, of Kokomo, Ind., for a contract not to exceed $85,000 for hauling away up to 500,000 gallons of the sludge.

At the request of board member Robert Schwartz, Brown looked into recycling the sludge at the steel mill. Samples were provided to the mill, but, Brown said, the department would have to haul the sludge to the mill. He said the department doesn't have trucks to do that or the pumps for getting the material into the trucks.

He said the board could have hired Merrill to haul the material to the mill, but the mill would need to get the state permits for disposing of the sludge and that would take several months.

Merrill already has all the permits.

It also hauls the treated sewage sludge from the city's wastewater treatment plant and spreads it on farm fields. Brown said the iron and manganese sludge will be mixed with the sewage sludge and applied to the land. The work should begin in about a month and take about a week to complete.