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State environmental advocate warns Tompkins officials about PFAS, sewage-sludge land application
Summary
A representative of Environmental Advocates of New York told the Council that biosolids (sewage sludge) applied to farmland can contain PFAS and other contaminants; she urged local governments to consider county or municipal action to restrict land-application while statewide regulation advances.
Claire Walsh Wenzler, director of food, agriculture and land use policy at Environmental Advocates of New York, briefed the Tompkins County Council of Governments on risks from sewage sludge (biosolids) applied to farmland, focusing on industrial contaminants and PFAS “forever chemicals.”
Why it matters: Biosolids applied to farmland can contain persistent, bioaccumulative contaminants that may transfer to soil, crops, animal feed and, in some cases, drinking water. Municipalities that host farmland, rely on well water, or consider accepting outside waste may want to review local policy while statewide regulation evolves.
Walsh Wenzler said biosolids historically were discharged to the ocean until federal law changed in 1989, after which treatment…
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