Biosolids are a low-cost fertilizer for fields, but could be leaving behind lasting chemicals.
Biosolids or sewage sludge is produced by wastewater treatment plants during the process of removing contaminants. It’s treated to remove toxic contaminants before being dried and marketed to farmers by third-party companies as inexpensive fertilizer. One of those companies is Synagro, a leading supplier of sustainable solutions for biosolids.
Synagro has applied for a renewal of its Orange County permit with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which includes applying biosolids on 2,564.9 acres of agricultural and silvicultural land at eight sites, 200 acres of which is new to the permit. According to DEQ, “the permit authorizes the land application of biosolids and water treatment plant residuals as fertilizer on specific sites in the county and limits the application of nutrients, metals and pathogens contained in these materials to amounts that protect water quality and human health, in accordance with Virginia Pollution Abatement” regulations. However, the DEQ doesn’t include PFAs in their regulations.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) are man-made forever chemicals. According to ongoing research by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), exposure to PFAs may lead to adverse health outcomes. And they’re likely in the biosolids being placed on local farms.
Piedmont Environmental Council Don McCowan said Synagro has to submit to DEQ a list of its biosolid sources. Research done on those sources, most of which are wastewater treatment plants, has shown 24 of the 38 are known to contain PFAs. Wastewater treatment plants are tested for the presence of PFAs, but biosolids are not tested, nor are companies required to remove PFAs from them.
“If it’s true they are getting biosolids from these sources for this permit, these sources have been tested and are contaminated with PFAs,” McCowan said. “Farmers are passive recipients of the contamination.”
McCowan said there are a number of concerns with PFAs in biosolids. He said once applied, they could runoff into waterways and there are questions regarding if crops take them up from the soil, if livestock ingest them and if they are found in dairy milk. Some farms in other parts of the country, McCowan said, have been negatively impacted by biosolids. In Maine, more than 70 farms were impacted by biosolid-related contamination. In 2022, the state was the first in the nation to ban the spread of biosolids on farm fields. In Texas, ranchers filed a lawsuit against Synagro claiming livestock were sickened by PFAs. Maryland has paused all new biosolid permit applications.
“We want the DEQ to test for this stuff and inform farmers [about the potential affects],” McCowan said. The DEQ Fact Sheet doesn’t currently mention PFAs.
Orange resident Jamie McConnell serves on the Rotary Club of Orange’s Conservation Committee which focuses on clean water. He said elevated PFA levels have been found in surface waters on the Rapidan River near Culpeper, in Mountain Run where Raccoon Ford Road intersects the river and where Pamunkey Creek intersects with Thornhill Road. Fish samples taken from Mine Run near Zoar Road have found PFA levels well over the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level of 4 parts per trillion. McConnell has successfully led the charge to require DEQ to have a public hearing on Synagro’s permit renewal application.
In order to host a public hearing, DEQ has to receive at least 25 comments on the application. The public hearing process is somewhat new. The Orange County hearing will be the third in the state. The hearing will be held Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. at 11282 Government Center Drive, Orange.
“The conservation committee believes we cannot ignore PFAs,” McConnell said. “The more you know, the better equipped you are. We’re not really against biosolids. They’re a boon to farmers, but they need to know what’s going on.”
McCowan agreed. He said farmers are not to blame and the idea isn’t to make things more difficult for them or cost them more money, but rather to be fully educated and informed by what they’re agreeing to.
“We want your farmland to be viable for your children and their children, but we need to figure out what this stuff does to farmland,” He said.
For more information, visit https://www.dontspreadonme.org/orange-county. The Synagro permit application, and applications in other counties, can be viewed at https://www.deq.virginia.gov/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/3689/137.
In addition to the public hearing, comments may be made to via email to stephanie.bowman@deq.virginia.gov or by mail to Stephanie Bowman, DEQ-BRRO, 901 Russell Drive, Salem, VA 24513. All comments must include your name and email or postal address and must be received by DEQ by Nov. 7. Comments should also reference “Permit Number VPA00075, Synagro Central, LLC – Orange County.”
