PFAS Action Act: Sewage Sludge Contamination 

PFAS contamination via sewage sludge has impacted the lives of many farmers in Maine and across the county, so much so that a sludge crisis has ravaged multiple states. The biggest question on your mind may be, “How does this happen?.”

Sewage sludge is the leftover contaminant from treating wastewater. Whenever we flush anything down our drains (soap, cleaning products, etc.), most of the United States relies on sewer systems to transport the wastewater from homes into sewage treatment plants.

According to Food and Water Watch, the U.S. generates millions of tons of sludge annually. In many states, it’s common practice — and even encouraged by state officials — for farmers to spread sludge on their fields as fertilizer. Many sewage treatment plants or industrial corporations sell their sludge to farmers to use as fertilizer at a low cost. Examples include the widespread sludge crisis in Maine and the O’Neal family farm in South Carolina. 

Farmers are routinely led to believe that their fertilizer is rich in nutrients and will help their crops thrive while serving as a cheaper alternative. Instead, toxic chemicals such as PFAS leech into the water, soil, and plants, ultimately impacting the food we buy and consume. PFAS traces have even been found in Michigan cattle via beef and milk.

That’s why groups like Food and Water Watch are urging the passage of the PFAS Action Act. Introduced in December of 2023 by Congressman Chris Pappas from New Hampshire, the PFAS Action Act is comprehensive, bipartisan legislation that would protect Americans and our environment from ‘forever chemicals’ by establishing a national drinking water standard for select PFAS chemicals, accelerating the designation of PFOA and PFOS chemicals as hazardous substances, limiting industrial discharge, and providing communities with resources to support water utilities and wastewater treatment, among other provisions.

Want to get involved? Sign this petition to urge your members of Congress to pass the PFAS Action Act and protect our drinking water from toxic chemicals!

P.S. – Help us continue this fight against PFAS contamination by pitching in today!