Maryland agency urges source control and expanded authority to curb PFAS exposure

Maryland’s Department of the Environment laid out a three-part strategy to reduce PFAS exposures on Wednesday, emphasizing upstream source control, targeted reductions of high‑risk exposures such as drinking water and fish, and stronger tools to hold polluters accountable.

Assistant Secretary Zachary Schaefer told members of the House Environment and Transportation and House Health committees that PFAS (referred to in the briefing as PAS) are a “very large family of about 15,000 chemicals” used in products from firefighting foams to nonstick coatings and that many do not break down in the environment. “Because they get into the environment and don't break down, we start to come into contact with them through a lot of different ways,” Schaefer said.

Why it matters: Schaefer said repeated, low‑level exposures to certain PFAS — notably PFOA and PFOS — have been linked in the scientific literature to increased risks of cancer, high blood pressure in pregnancy, reduced vaccine response in children and other health conditions. Maryland has pursued a mix of state legislation, monitoring and early treatment funding while awaiting and responding to federal rules.

Key facts from MDE’s briefing: - Drinking water: MDE conducted early testing and identified 64 public systems serving about 200,000 households that are likely to need upgrades to meet the 2024 EPA rule for six PFAS; Maryland has helped secure more than $90 million in funding for nearly half those upgrades and expects systems to meet the original 2029 deadline. - Wastewater and pre‑treatment: MDE has sampled more than 100 treatment plants; 34 are developing source‑tracking plans. The department has published action levels for PFAS in effluent from significant industrial users and said seven industrial facilities must develop mitigation plans. Schaefer cautioned that action levels are not regulatory standards and that stronger statutory or regulatory authority is needed to fully activate Clean Water Act pre‑treatment programs. - Bio solids: MDE’s 2025 dataset includes roughly 500 bio solids samples. Most land‑applying systems showed comparatively low PFAS levels, Schaefer said, but about half a dozen plants are near or above levels being discussed in proposed legislation. He cited EPA draft risk modeling suggesting PFAS in sludge can reach dairy, meat and drinking water under some scenarios. - AFFF foam: Maryland ended routine testing/training uses of aqueous film‑forming foam (AFFF) in 2024 and reported an inventory of about 10,000 gallons of legacy foam concentrate for removal and safe destruction.

What MDE recommended: Schaefer urged a balanced approach that prioritizes preventing PFAS from entering the environment, reducing acute exposure pathways, and using enforcement tools to shift costs to polluters where feasible. He cited Michigan’s 2017 use of mandatory local limits and active pre‑treatment as a model that reduced PFAS loads significantly without building large destruction systems.

Requests and next steps: Committee members asked for follow‑up information on bio solids sampling spreadsheets, grant programs and any Maryland‑specific blood‑serum data. Schaefer agreed to share available datasets and to coordinate with the Department of Health on biomonitoring information.

The committee left the briefing having heard several concrete policy choices — stronger state standards to enable pre‑treatment, continued investment in community drinking‑water upgrades, and targeted action on a small number of wastewater plants with elevated bio solids levels — while identifying private wells, landfill leachate and dredge spoil sites as areas needing further data and resources.