Outrage over ‘forever chemicals’ as hazardous sewage sludge is released in certain states in the USA

19 September, 2022

Regulators let governments continue spreading sludge despite the fact that the PFAS-tainted chemical has destroyed livelihoods and poisoned water.

States are continuing to allow sewage sludge to be spread as fertiliser on farms, and in some instances increasing the quantity spread, despite the fact that the PFAS-tainted chemical has destroyed farmers’ livelihoods, poisoned water sources, polluted food, and put the public’s health at danger.

Michigan and Maine are the only two states in the United States that have extensively tested sludge, and authorities in both states report contamination in all tested samples. Nonetheless, authorities in Virginia have recently doubled the quantity of sludge authorised to be sprayed on farms without testing for PFAS, while Alabama regulators have denied homeowners’ and environmental organisations’ requests to test sludge for the chemicals.

Similar battles are taking place in other states, including Georgia and Oklahoma, and public health groups are concerned that authorities are disregarding the hazards in order to placate the waste management business.

“We’re in an utter disaster, and the government knows it,” said Julie Lay, an Alabama farm worker who has mobilised neighbours to attempt to stop sludge from being spread across the state. “It’s dreadful.”

‘I’m not sure how we’ll survive,’ say farmers amid America’s ‘forever chemicals’ issue.

Sewage sludge is a byproduct of the water treatment process that remains after water is separated from human and industrial waste released into the country’s sewage systems. According to the Sierra Club, sludge is “the most pollutant-rich man-made material on Earth.”

The biosolid treatment procedure does not eliminate PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” a widely used dangerous substance that is used to make hundreds of items withstand water, stain, and heat and is said to contaminate all sludge by specialists. Chemicals from sludge may quickly migrate into soil, crops, animals, and local drinking water supplies. Testing studies in Michigan and Maine have shown significant contamination in areas where the material was applied, as well as in crops, livestock, groundwater, and even farmers’ blood.

Maine became the first state to outlaw the practice last year after pollution hurt its agriculture business. Similarly, Michigan authorities and environmental organisations discovered per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination on dozens of farms, causing one to close and raising concerns about the state’s farming safety. The state implemented a strategy to identify farms at high risk of pollution, restricted certain wastewater treatment facilities from selling sludge, and required polluters to cease dumping PFAS into sewers.

Other states, though, are adopting a different strategy. In July, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) approved Synagro’s permission request to spread sludge over approximately 5,400 acres of farmland in King William County, just north of Richmond. The proposal follows a 2013 permission that allowed the corporation to spread over 7,155 acres in the county, and the DEQ is now contemplating a new permit request for an additional 1,900 acres, according to Tyla Matteson, head of the Sierra Club’s York River Group.

A public hearing was requested after over 80 local neighbours and environmental organisations protested the most recent Synagro permit. They are concerned that sludge strewn on adjoining fields has poisoned people, produces a foul odour, and contaminates their drinking water, soil, and food with PFAS.

However, state authorities said that Synagro is in compliance with all state and federal rules, dismissed the request for a public hearing, and disregarded PFAS testing needs. Synagro did not reply promptly to calls for comment.

“We’re disgusted because we’re being poisoned slowly,” Matteson added. “Virginia must stand firm and follow the lead of other states.”

The Virginia DEQ told the Guardian that it is waiting for the Environmental Protection Agency to complete its analysis of the danger of PFAS contamination in biosolids before considering testing for the chemicals. State or federal limitations on PFAS in sludge or food have not been set.

According to a spokeswoman, PFAS does not accumulate at high levels on farms, and the revelation of extensive contamination in Michigan and Maine may be a “outlier.” The Virginia DEQ’s assertion contradicts a research conducted by Michigan authorities, which discovered a clear link between biosolid usage and PFAS accumulation on farms.

In June, regulators with the Alabama Department of Environmental Management tightened some rules around how sludge and other waste products spread on agricultural land are applied and stored, in response to several years of resident complaints about odour, pollution, PFAS contamination, and other issues.

However, the state rejected pleas for PFAS testing of sludge and did not reply to the Guardian’s request for comment. The failure to test in the midst of current problems in Michigan and Maine is “concerning,” according to Jack West, policy and advocacy director for Alabama Rivers Alliance, which has petitioned the state to test for PFAS.

“We want to consume food produced in our state,” he says, “but it’s disturbing to go to grocery stores or farmers markets and not know whether the food we’re purchasing was grown in soils that had sludge sprayed to them when no one is testing the sludge for PFAS.”

In the absence of real assistance from state regulators, public health activists intend to lobby lawmakers to take up the subject during the next legislative session, according to West.

Julie Lay and her neighbours in northern Alabama have petitioned a court to force a neighbouring farm to cease spreading sludge and are seeking to educate farmers about the hazards. According to Lay, sludge deposited on an adjacent field may be polluting an aquifer from which at least 30,000 inhabitants take water. She compared the odour of the sludge to that of decaying corpses, and she claims the material has sickened her neighbours.

Unwitting farmers are the victims of industry actors such as Synagro, which promotes low-cost biosolids, according to Lay.

Lay said, “What they’re doing is terrible.” “[Synagro] has no idea what’s in sludge as long as toilets and industrial waste are dumped into the sewers.”

Farmers and communities in Virginia, according to Matteson, don’t have many tools for preventing sludge permits from being obtained, but they will continue to fight future permit requests and raise awareness.

“I believe in individuals speaking out,” she said. “I believe in never giving up.”