The US Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced it is releasing draft guidance (PDF) for wastewater treatment plants, farmers, and water agencies to mitigate risks from perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in sewage-sludge fertilizer, known in the industry as biosolids.
“This draft guidance will provide Americans with commonsense recommendations that can protect public health, while also supporting wastewater systems and beneficial use of biosolids when appropriate,” EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Water Jessica Kramer says in a press release.
Biosolids are treated, semisolid, nutrient-dense organic materials that result from the separation of liquid and solid waste during the wastewater treatment process. Nearly 60% of biosolids in the US are applied to land as fertilizer, while the rest are either stored in landfills or incinerated, according to the EPA. Because of concerns that biosolids may spread per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to crops and groundwater, several states have introduced regulations to reduce PFAS in biosolids. Maine and Connecticut passed total bans on spreading biosolids on land in 2022 (PDF) and 2024 (PDF), respectively.
In addition, in 2024, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) sued the EPA on behalf of Texas farmers over its failure to regulate PFAS in biosolids and prevent them from contaminating farmlands. The US District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed the case in 2025, though the plaintiffs have filed an appeal. Also in 2025, the Joe Biden administration released a draft assessment of the health and environmental risks of PFOA and PFOS in biosolids.
The current EPA criticized that assessment in this new guidance, writing that it “exhibited a number of serious flaws that have caused confusion among the public and the regulated community.” The previous assessment focused primarily on risks posed to people living on or near areas that use biosolids. “The agency did not estimate how often these higher-risk scenarios occur in the U.S. Nor did the agency assess risks to the public,” according to the new draft guidance.
Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at PEER, tells C&EN that while she agrees that the 2025 risk assessment was flawed, “their conclusion was satisfactory, where they said anything over one part per billion of PFOA or PFOS could be considered dangerous to farmers that live there.” The new guidance, she adds, is the EPA’s “first step in trying to negate that draft risk assessment.”
Jean Zhuang, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, agrees. “This administration is tossing aside a comprehensive, science-based assessment of the dangers of PFAS and replacing it with a thin, watered-down document that trivializes real harm,” Zhuang writes in a press release.
The current proposal, which is voluntary and nonbinding, states that biosolids containing PFOA and PFOS don’t have widespread impacts on the national food supply. To mitigate risk, though, the agency recommends that farmers avoid applying biosolids near fishable waters or reservoirs for drinking water and areas that children under five have access to. Farmers should use biosolids to fertilize only “lower risk crops for human exposure, like farms growing grain, fiber crops, or corn for ethanol production,” the guidance says.
Additionally, for members of the general public who may want to use biosolids on their land, the EPA advises they consider “researching the supplier of the sewage sludge” and avoid applying biosolids to vegetable gardens and near areas that children may have access to, like playgrounds. Bennett says this “shifts the burden to the public to do their own research,” adding that this information isn’t available to the public because the EPA doesn’t require testing of biosolids for PFAS contamination.
For wastewater treatment plants, removing PFAS from biosolids is an expensive and difficult task. PFAS removal and destruction can cost municipal wastewater facilities between $2.7 million and $18 million per pound of PFAS, according to a study by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The EPA writes that wastewater treatment facilities can consider pollution prevention and monitoring, disposing of biosolids in sewage-sludge-only landfills, or incinerating sewage sludge. The agency did not give recommendations of PFAS-destruction technologies or how treatment plants should prevent PFAS in biosolids.
Steve Dye, the managing director of government relations and partnerships at the industry group Water Environment Federation, writes in an email to C&EN that the draft guidance “offers practical recommendations to help utilities, communities, businesses, farmers, and biosolids managers take initial steps towards PFAS control.”
The trade association National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) welcomes the draft guidance.
“NACWA met with EPA multiple times over recent months to discuss this critical issue and is pleased the Agency has recognized the draft biosolids risk assessment issued last year does not appropriately reflect real world conditions,” Nathan Gardner-Andrews, the chief advocacy and outreach officer of NACWA, writes in an email to C&EN. “We are also pleased the draft guidance highlights the innovative approaches some states are taking to address PFAS in biosolids while also acknowledging the critical role that land application plays in biosolids management.”
The EPA published a notice announcing the availability of the draft guidance in the July 6 Federal Register. The agency is soliciting public comments until Sept. 4.
