The issue of PFAS and its presence in biosolids is gaining increasing regulatory and public attention around the United States. This has been in part driven by an increasing number of recent media reports at both the national and local level focused on the potential environmental and health impacts of PFAS in biosolids, especially those that are land applied.  

For many public clean water utilities, this is resulting in increased questions about whether PFAS is present in the biosolids produced by the utility, how the biosolids are managed and whether there are any public health or environmental concerns presented by the potential presence of PFAS in biosolids.  

These can be difficult questions for a utility to answer, especially given the complexity and technical nature of the PFAS issue, and how these conversations play out will likely vary given the unique circumstances and operational characteristics of a given facility. In short, there is no “one size fits all” answer to many of these questions. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also recently released a draft risk assessment examining the potential risk of PFAS in biosolids. This document can also cause confusion among the press and general public about the issue of PFAS and biosolids.   

However, there are some general facts and statements about biosolids and PFAS that could be helpful to utilities when responding to inquiries from the public, press or political leaders about the issue. NACWA has put together the resources below to aid clean water utilities when these types of questions arise.