Two municipal sludges, one from a highly industrialized city, Chicago, and another from a lesser industrialized, highly agricultural area, Tucson, are compared for barley production on Pima c 1 (Typic torrifluvent). Both sludges were responsible for highly significant additions of Zn, Cu, Ni, Cd and P to the soil each year at the rates of 100mt/ha single and 20mt/ha for 2 years. Nitrogen responses for barley straw and grain were observed from both sludges. Tucson sludge appears to be attractive as a potential fertilizer, not only as an NPK source, but also for its minimal amounts of heavy metals. The Chicago sludge with high levels of heavy metals, particularly Cd, appears unsuited as a fertilizer because of the plant's tendency to take up toxic levels of heavy metals.