by Emily Clinch

Filming M. Night Shyamalan's newest movie, Signs, in Bucks County almost turned out to be as tense as watching it. The would-be blockbuster features aerial images of crop circles, a feat that requires tall, lush corn plants.

During filming, however, a drought hit the film set in Bucks County, Penn. Still, the corn did not suffer. It's tempting to credit the beautiful crop to the work of space aliens, but in truth, Earthly science had much more to do with its success.

Jennifer Fields, of the Department of Environmental Protection, revealed the much less spooky story. The film crew partnered with Delaware Valley College Professor Larry Hepner and the DEP to get permits to use wastewater effluent to fertilize the corn. "They didn't want to take any chances, and they wanted to make sure the corn was irrigated," Fields said. "It's lucky they decided to go with the effluent, because, from the day he planted the corn, there was no rain — the drought started."

Despite the drought, the corn on the movie set grew. During DEP field inspections, Fields observed that DelVal's corn "was almost twice as tall as the corn in the fields that were not irrigated, and it had big beautiful ears on it unlike the other corn, and it was perfectly green, not brown."

Rather than spreading fertilizer on fields before planting the crops, DelVal's program let the plants get nutrients through the irrigation "during its growth cycle," encouraging better, more rapid growth and extending the growing season of the corn.

Effluent has been used in the southwest for years, but water-rich Pennsylvania has not widely had to rely on it yet. Currently, Pennsylvanians interested in using effluent on their crops must have DEP permits. Some golf courses and greenhouses use the water already, since it is especially rich in nutrients. Users don't have to worry about spreading the equivalent of raw sewage.

"It's fairly clean once it's gone through the treatment plant," Fields assured prospective effluent farmers. Many sewage treatment plants will give away effluent water for free, but be warned — transporting the effluent can be pricey.

"Location is everything. If you're anywhere near the treatment plant it's fairly easy to install a pumping system." However, the price of pumping rises with distance.

The film set used for Signs was located close to the Chalfont/New Britian Township Joint Sewer Authority. Jennifer Fields hasn't seen Signs yet, but she has a few apprehensions.

"Apparently it's really, really scary. I haven't seen it yet. The corn is beautiful, but it may not be more beautiful than Mel Gibson. I'm not sure. I'm being told that Mel may distract me from the corn."