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Senate committee advances bill requiring PFAS reporting from wastewater plants
Summary
Senator Andrew McPike introduced a substitute to SB1319 directing publicly owned wastewater treatment works to collect PFAS pretreatment data and provide it to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, a move supporters called necessary to fill gaps in state monitoring.
Senator Andrew McPike, patron of Senate Bill 1319, told the Senate Agriculture and Conservation and Natural Resources Committee he introduced the substitute to expand last year’s PFAS work beyond drinking-water systems to include publicly owned wastewater treatment works.
"This substitute before you really focuses and takes the same areas that we did last year and applies also to our waste water treatment plants," Senator McPike said, describing the measure as a way to collect pre‑treatment data and share it with DEQ so the state can better address PFAS contamination.
The bill, proponents said, responds to studies that link PFAS — so‑called "forever chemicals" — to developmental harms, cancers and bioaccumulation in living resources. Mike Lightfoot, a commercial waterman who said he operates an aquaculture oyster company, told the committee he is worried about public perception harming the seafood industry: “2023 was a $40,000,000 industry,” he said, and contamination could reduce consumer demand.
Environmental groups spoke in support. Dean Nix of Potomac Riverkeeper Network described the measure as a “common‑sense step” to prevent contaminated biosolids and waste from reaching farm fields and waterways. Other supporters who testified included representatives of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the James River Association, Friends of the Rappahannock, Virginia League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.
Committee questions focused on enforcement and cost. Senator Jennifer Stewart asked whether the substitute included enforcement or reporting costs for localities; Senator McPike said the substitute relies on self‑reporting by permittees and that the only expected cost would be minor application updates to add a reporting question. The bill requires wastewater plants to ensure pretreatment reports are also provided to DEQ.
The committee moved to report the substitute. The clerk recorded the vote as 14 yeas, 0 nays. The substitute will be transmitted to the next stage of the legislative process.
