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Bangor warns of biosolids disposal crisis as PFAS rules cut options
Summary
City staff told the infrastructure committee Bangor’s biosolids are high in PFAS, land-application is effectively off the table under Maine’s 2023 ban, landfill capacity is tightening, and regional drying or treatment facilities would require large, likely regional, capital investments.
Amanda Smith, Bangor’s director of water quality management, told the infrastructure committee on Feb. 18 that biosolids disposal is a growing operational and financial crisis for the city because of widespread regulatory and market changes tied to PFAS contamination.
Smith defined biosolids as the solids removed by wastewater treatment and said they contain beneficial nutrients but also trace contaminants that regulators monitor, including PFAS. She described three federally recognized disposal options — land application, incineration, and landfilling — and said Maine’s 2023 legislation banned land application statewide regardless of PFAS levels, forcing many treatment plants to divert biosolids to landfills.
Bangor’s biosolids test high for PFAS, Smith said, and staff…
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