PFAS in Biosolids
What are biosolids?
Biosolids are a product of the wastewater treatment process that provide safe, natural fertilizer that improves our environment, lowers costs of wastewater treatment, and supports our nation’s agriculture.
The majority of biosolids generated across the country are applied on farmland as fertilizer. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and many states regulate biosolids, and past studies have shown that land application of biosolids is safe for the environment.
How are they used and what are their benefits?
Wastewater from homes and businesses contains nitrogen and phosphorus, which are vital nutrients in agriculture, but harmful to our rivers and streams, and especially the Chesapeake Bay.
FCWSA removes the nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater to protect the Bay and then works with agricultural service companies to distribute the biosolids to help agriculture. Biosolids provide essential nitrogen and phosphorus for farmers, helping them reduce their use of commercial fertilizers and save money at the same time.
This sustainable practice creates a win-win solution for waterways in Fauquier County, the Chesapeake Bay, and our farmers.
Land application offers multiple benefits, including recycling nutrients to improve soil health and vegetative growth, restoring vitality to degraded lands, sequestering carbon, and enhancing the capacity of soil to absorb and hold water.
Biosolids land application also reduces reliance on manufactured chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which ultimately reduces the amounts of hazardous constituents found in chemical fertilizers and pesticides from entering and impacting waterways.
And in addition to their multiple environmental benefits, biosolids can provide a more affordable option for farmers compared to chemical fertilizer.
Are biosolids safe for use?
Decades of study at the federal and state levels have found land application to be safe, when done in accordance with established regulations. The EPA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) all support biosolids land application.
Nearly every U.S. state regulates and allows biosolids land application and biosolids have been widely used on farms and other lands for decades. Many major universities have studied the use of biosolids on soils and support the safety of this management practice, finding little risk when used according to regulations. It’s important to note that PFAS have also been found in commercial fertilizers.
There have been specific instances in the country where biosolids containing PFAS have impacted local farms and drinking water sources. These instances have led to regulatory action in some states, ranging from the end of biosolids use in Maine to increased monitoring for PFAS in biosolids in Michigan and Maryland.
Has any action been taken by the EPA when it comes to PFAS and biosolids?
EPA recently released a Draft Risk Assessment of the risk of PFOA and PFOS – the two PFAS used most extensively for decades – in biosolids through land application, but it has not proposed any changes to its current biosolids regulations as a result. EPA has also not proposed any regulation of PFOA or PFOS in biosolids.
Because the assessment was released during the previous presidential administration, there is some question whether EPA will move forward and evaluate whether the potential risks posed by PFOA and PFOS in biosolids warrant additional biosolids regulation.
If it does, the next step is for EPA to review public comment on the Draft Risk Assessment and determine if it will finalize the assessment. If EPA finalizes the assessment, it must then determine if additional biosolids regulations are warranted. If EPA determines further regulation is warranted, the Agency will need to begin a rulemaking process that will likely take several years.
The EPA has issued several new regulations for some PFAS in drinking water. Why is the EPA taking a different approach with biosolids?
The EPA’s drinking water standards for six PFAS compounds that were announced in April 2024 – and go into effect April 2029 – are based on the potential impact of those compounds on humans over a lifetime of consuming the chemicals through drinking water.
There is no way to apply the drinking water standards to biosolids; they involve two very different pathways of exposure. Drinking water provides an EPA-estimated 20% of a person’s exposure to PFAS, while the remaining 80% comes from a person’s use of consumer products using PFAS such as cookware, clothing, food packaging, cosmetics, deodorants, and toilet paper, just to name a few.
Biosolids use doesn’t provide a direct pathway to exposure for a person; people don’t consume or use them in their daily lives. Therefore, any attempt to apply the EPA’s drinking water standards for PFAS to biosolids levels is not scientifically accurate.
What is FCWSA doing about PFAS and biosolids?
FCWSA is continuing our production and distribution of biosolids because of their many agricultural, environmental, operational, and economic benefits. Along with many other utilities, FCWSA is proactively studying and assessing PFAS that enters wastewater systems, that is present throughout the watershed, and that can be found in our wastewater discharges and biosolids.
When the data and information point to concentrated sources of PFAS, such as industrial users, FCWSA will work with them to reduce their impacts.
In the meantime, the widespread use nationwide of PFAS in everyday goods, including products that end up in our wastewater systems requires regulatory attention. Because the best way to address the existence of PFAS in biosolids is to keep them out of our wastewater systems in the first place.
Where do FCWSA biosolids go?
FCWSA has three regional wastewater treatment facilities across the County, and we produce biosolids in accordance with EPA and Virginia DEQ requirements. Like most other regional wastewater facilities, we then join with other wastewater utilities and contract with agricultural services companies to distribute biosolids to approved farms for beneficial reuse as nutrients for the soil.
Because the agricultural service companies partner with numerous utilities and farmers across the state, FCWSA’s biosolids could be reused by farmers across the state.
What alternatives does FCWSA have?
The primary options for wastewater utilities are land application of biosolids, hauling them to a landfill for disposal, or incinerating them. Of these, land application is considered the only environmentally sustainable option at this time.
According to the EPA, nationwide about 56% of biosolids are land applied, 27% go to landfills, 16% are incinerated, and 1% are stored or injected underground (www.epa.gov/biosolids/basic-information-about-sewage-sludge-and-biosolids).
However, currently none of these options are considered to treat the prevalence of PFAS in biosolids, though research is ongoing. Consequently, FCWSA is currently partnering with other wastewater authorities in Northern Virginia to explore alternatives over the coming decades for biosolids in our region.