The Finger Lakes Group is taking action to stop local land spreading of sewage sludge. New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) wants to dramatically increase the amount of sewage sludge spread on farmland over the next ten years according to their recently published Solid Waste Management Plan.1 Where is much of this sewage sludge intended to be spread? You guessed it, on farmland in the Finger Lakes.
Sewage sludge, also known as biosolids, is the solid material captured by our wastewater treatment plants. Sewage sludge is the solid waste from our homes when we flush the toilet, as well as effluent from businesses like hospitals and manufacturing plants, all mixed together. The DEC granted sewage sludge a “beneficial-use” designation, and touts it as a valuable soil amendment. This would be true if it weren’t for significant toxic contamination in the sludge. Some of the most health-threatening sewage sludge contaminants are PFAS. Unfortunately, the DEC is slow to acknowledge the full extent of the PFAS contamination and is not taking needed action to keep PFAS out of our food and water supplies. If we want to keep PFAS contamination out of our food and water supplies, the last thing we should do is spread PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge on our farmland.
PFAS, an acronym for Per or Poly Fluorinated Alkyl Substances, is a large family of chemicals where fluorine atoms are directly bonded to carbon atoms along the carbon chain. Below are some facts about PFAS (edited for brevity), taken from the US Environmental Protection Agency’s “PFAS Explained” website.2
“One common characteristic of concern of PFAS is that many break down very slowly and can build up in people, animals, and the environment over time. PFAS can be present in our water, soil, air, and food…for example in fish caught from water contaminated by PFAS and dairy products from livestock exposed to PFAS…[PFAS sources include] Manufacturing or chemical production facilities that produce or use PFAS – for example at chrome plating, electronics, and certain textile and paper manufacturers…[other sources include] Biosolids [a.k.a. sewage sludge] – for example fertilizer from wastewater treatment plants that is used on agricultural lands can affect ground and surface water and animals that graze on the land.”
PFAS chemicals are nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they breakdown extremely slowly in the environment. As the EPA explains, PFAS chemicals bioaccumulate. A few parts per trillion (ppt) in the water can bioaccumulate to thousands of ppt in fish. One PFAS chemical, which goes by the acronym, PFOS, is showing up in high concentrations in fish caught in the Finger Lakes. The DEC tested lake trout and perch from Seneca Lake for PFOS in 2020. Of 34 fish tested, more than three-fourths of the fish exceeded 2000 ppt, and five fish exceeded 15,000 ppt of PFOS.3
The EPA further explains how PFAS can affect our health: “Current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to…Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility…Developmental effects or delays in children…Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers…Increased cholesterol levels…Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections.”
In May of 2023, the EPA recently issued proposed maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for two PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, in public drinking water systems. The MCL level was set at 4 ppt for both. 4 ppt is a vanishingly small concentration, which shows how powerfully these two PFAS chemicals can magnify in concentration as they move through the food chain. EPA anticipates finalizing the regulation by the end of this year, 2023.4
In the state of Maine, milk was discovered contaminated with PFAS, after cows ate crops grown on fields spread with sewage sludge. Some dairy operations were financially ruined due to the PFAS contamination. PFAS found in sewage sludge by Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection caused the state’s legislature to pass a law banning all land spreading of sewage sludge in the state.5
In the Finger Lakes, the towns of Thurston, Bath, and Cameron, southwest of Keuka Lake, share a sprawling 2,800-acre sewage sludge land spreading operation which began in the 1980’s. Casella Waste Systems Inc. recently purchased/leased the land spreading operation from Leo Dickson and Sons Inc., the local owner. Area residents are fearful that Casella will continue or expand land spreading despite many previous and ongoing concerns with contaminants such as heavy metals, and now the added concern of PFAS contamination.
Casella, a Vermont-based company, operates landfills and sewage sludge land spreading/composting operations across several states in the northeast, including Maine. After acquiring the Finger Lakes land spreading operation, Casella asked the DEC to add a new source of sewage sludge to the list of permitted sources. The new source, the Bay Park sewage plant, on Long Island, roughly doubles the total annual tonnage of sewage sludge available for land spreading in this area. The DEC is still deciding whether to permit this new source.6
Since February of this year, the Sierra Club Finger Lakes Group has worked with residents living near the land spreading, to test for PFAS contamination. Sierra Club member and area resident, Elizabeth Donderewicz, leads the testing program. Testing was performed in two rounds. The first round used Cyclopure uncertified tests, focused mostly on private drinking water wells close to the land spreading. 35 round-one tests were completed. 18 tests were private water wells on land next to the land spreading operations. Of those wells, 50% showed total PFAS levels at 1 ppt or higher, and two wells showed PFOA and/or PFOS above the EPA’s proposed limit of 4 ppt for public drinking water.
Given the results of the first-round tests, Thurston, Cameron, and Bath enacted one-year moratoriums on sewage sludge land spreading, although Bath rescinded their moratorium a short time later.
Thurston held a town hall meeting in August to get resident comments on proposed legislation to ban the practice of sewage sludge land spreading in the town. DEC officials from both Region 8 and Albany attended the town hall meeting and presented a defense of sewage sludge land spreading. Albany senior DEC official, Sally Rowland, disagreed with Maine’s sewage sludge land spreading ban, saying that it was an overreaction. Rowland also indicated that any law banning land spreading of sewage sludge may interfere with the “Right to Farm” law.
Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law firm, is providing pro-bono legal aid to the Town of Thurston to help with crafting the ban law. Earthjustice cited a soil analysis from the USDA showing that 95% of the land in the current land spreading area is quite poorly suited for this purpose, due to high propensity for sludge runoff thus potentially contaminating nearby water supplies.7 In October, the Town of Thurston unanimously adopted a sewage sludge land spreading ban. The new law will likely be challenged by Casella. The Finger Lakes Group agrees with the Town of Thurston that land spreading must stop until the sewage sludge is proven free from contamination.
The second round of tests started in September. These tests included six certified tests at the same locations where high levels of PFAS contamination were found using uncertified tests. The results from the second round are now in, including the certified tests, and Donderewicz is preparing a report. Donderewicz plans to unveil the second-round results at a town hall meeting in December. Stay tuned.
All this great work is done by unpaid volunteers. Money for PFAS tests comes from conservation grants provided by the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter (the NYS chapter to which our Finger Lakes Group belongs). Funds for PFAS tests also come from donations from area residents and local environmental groups such as People for a Healthy Environment, Inc., and Green Amendments for the Generations. If you would like to donate to help fund our work, please scan the QR code with your phone camera and open the linked website. The website is our chapter general funds donation website, but have no fear. Scanning this QR code automatically earmarks your donation to go to the PFAS water testing effort. Thank you for helping us preserve the planet.
References:
1. https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/materials_minerals_pdf/draftsswmpmainplan.pdf
2. https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-explained
3. https://waterfrontonline.blog/2023/03/13/pfos-found-in-most-seneca-lake-fish-at-hundreds-of-times-nys-limit-for-same-chemical-in-tap-water-tests-showed/
4. https://www.epa.gov/sdwa/and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas
5. https://waterfrontonline.blog/2022/11/08/casella-poised-to-spread-sewage-sludge-over-hundreds-of-acres-in-steuben-as-maine-bans-practice-due-to-tainted-milk/
6. https://waterfrontonline.blog/2023/09/21/thurston-braces-for-legal-battle-with-casella-retains-earthjustice-to-litigate-local-ban-on-spreading-sewage-sludge/
7. https://waterfrontonline.blog/2023/10/05/usda-rates-steuben-county-area-poorly-suited-for-sewage-sludge-spreading-according-to-draft-thurston-sludge-ban/