The Orange County Board of Supervisors is saying “no” to PFAs in biosolids.
Last month, the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) held a public hearing regarding an application for the renewal of Synagro’s Orange County permit to apply biosolids on 2,564.9 acres of agricultural and silvicultural land at eight sites, 200 acres of which would be new land that isn’t included in the original permit. The original permit expires July 12, 2026. If renewed, it would be good for 10 more years. 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 a major concern when it comes to biosolids.
During the public hearing, residents voiced concerns and advocated for the increased testing of biosolids. Now county supervisors are doing the same.
During last week’s board meeting, supervisors voted to authorize chairman Mark Johnson to send a letter to DEQ commenting on the permit application. The two-page letter states that while the board supports the application of biosolids for farmers in the county who want to use the substance for fertilizer, it opposed the approval of any permit for biosolids that contain PFAs. The board states that PFAs, even at extremely low levels, can cause significant harm to human health including developmental harm to children. In the letter, the board mentions other states that have taken actions on PFA-contaminated biosolids including Maine which has banned biosolid applications, Connecticut which prohibited them beginning last October and Michigan, New York and Wisconsin which have established interim PFA concentration limits for biosolids.
The board requests that the DEQ requires Synagro to test its biosolids for the presence of PFAs prior to application on any Orange County land with Synagro funding the expense. The board also requests that those test results be reported to DEQ and subsequently posted for public viewing and that the DEQ prohibit Synagro from applying PFA-containing biosolids on land in Orange County.
“Not one person at the public hearing said we ought to have PFAs in biosolids and put them on Orange County farmland,” District 5 Supervisor Bryan Nichol said. “We’re asking DEQ to put conditions on the permit. If PFAs are above the detection limits of EPA testing methods, then we’re asking they not be applied in Orange County.”
District 3 Supervisor Keith Marshall argued that the costs of any testing should be the responsibility of the wastewater treatment plants that produce the biosolids. He said Synagro is just a deliverer of the product and also argued that PFAs can be detected in rainwater.
“One part per trillion is in rainwater [and] can be detected,” Marshall said. “You’re saying you want less than that.”
District 2 Supervisor Ed Van Hoven said he would rather the DEQ or EPA set the acceptable level for PFAs.
“The DEQ hasn’t taken a stance on what that is yet,” District 4 Supervisor Crystal Hale said. “We have to say something about what is acceptable to us and what’s not because DEQ has not taken that stance yet.”
“These are chemicals that don’t break down,” Nichol added. “Do we have to have 500 kids get sick? Five thousand? We’re saying to those who regulate it, we need to regulate this.”
Johnson said as a nation, PFAs probably need to be banned altogether.
“That’s not what the board can do,” he said. “What we can do is say to the state please don’t dump anything in Orange County that has PFAs in it.”
Marshall cautioned that expenses associated with testing would be passed on to constituents. He suggested tabling the letter, noting that biosolids have been applied in Orange County for 50-60 years and waiting one more cycle to get the letter right would be worth it.
The letter was approved 4-1 with Marshall dissenting. It was to be submitted by this week’s deadline for DEQ to receive written comments on the permit application. Once the comment period closes, DEQ staff will prepare a summary of the comments and host a second public hearing for those who previously commented to respond to the summary. After that time, DEQ will decide to approve, deny or modify the permit application.
To view the permit application, visit https://www.deq.virginia.gov/news-info/shortcuts/public-notices/water/land-application-virginia-pollution-abatement-vpa.
