The St. Johns Riverkeeper is urging Florida to implement new testing requirements for biosolids in light of a new national report confirming that using those biosolids for fertilizer is linked to widespread contamination from toxic PFAS, or forever chemicals.
The new report led by the Waterkeepers Alliance follows the Environmental Protection Agency's recent move to roll back and delay existing drinking water regulations for several types of PFAS, including two of the most pervasive, PFOA and PFOS. Although those two specific PFAS will still be regulated, the compliance deadline for those regulations will now be delayed by two years, according to the EPA.
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Across the 19 states surveyed, including Florida, PFAS contamination was present in 80% of sites downstream from land where biosolids were applied, according to Waterkeepers Alliance. St. Johns Riverkeeper is a member of that national group and participated in an earlier phase of the study.
Biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, accumulate as solid byproducts during the wastewater treatment process. On average, the state produces about 340,000 dry tons of biosolids each year, according to a 2018 presentation by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. When properly treated and at certain, permitted locations, biosolids can be used to fertilize soil, according to FDEP.
But currently, state regulations don't include requirements to test these biosolids for PFAS before applying to land, creating unnecessary health and environmental risk for farmers and Central Florida at-large, according to St. Johns Riverkeeper Lisa Rinaman.
"Our farmers, they believe that they're being protected because the state is permitting the use of this sewage sludge," Rinaman said. "But they're not testing for these harmful, toxic chemicals."
In Florida, much of the sewage sludge used for fertilizer is applied to farmland near the headwaters of the St. Johns River in Brevard and Osceola counties, Rinaman said. On average each year from 2019-2021, Osceola County applied more biosolids by volume than any other county: more than 61,000 dry tons annually, according to a recent report from 1000 Friends of Florida.
But those biosolids didn't originate in Osceola. They were transferred there from other Florida counties, primarily Broward and Miami-Dade, according to the report. That's because in 2007, the state legislature effectively outlawed land application of biosolids within the Lake Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie River watersheds.
"So the closest place for South Florida to send their biosolids is the headwaters of St. Johns [River]," Rinaman said. "They actually put it on a truck and truck it up to the St. Johns River and dump it on farmland. And they're putting more than the crops need."
Phosphorus and nitrogen pollution from the land application of biosolids is a known problem, according to the St. Johns River Water Management District. But now, growing awareness of PFAS contamination is adding another layer to the challenges associated with biosolids, according to the St. Johns Riverkeeper.
"There's starting to be some recognition, as well as some data collection," Rinaman said. "But we're not seeing a holistic solution on how we deal with the growing volume of human waste in the state of Florida.
"Bottom line, if they just would test for PFAs chemicals before they allow biosolids to be disposed of on farmland, we'd go a long way," Rinaman said. "It's one of the easiest ways to make sure they're not exposing all of us to these toxic chemicals."
Findings published this week from the newest phase of the Waterkeeper Alliance study also reveal PFAS were present in 98% of surveyed surface water sites, and 95% of downstream sites near wastewater treatment plants.
"These are not isolated incidents, they're systemic," Waterkeeper Alliance CEO Marc Yaggi told reporters in a virtual press briefing last week.
Kelly Hunter Foster, a senior attorney at Waterkeeper Alliance, said the lack of federal standards makes keeping PFAS out of the environment impossible.
"The number one most important thing is to keep the PFAS out of the system, and out of the discharges. And that requires industrial dischargers to control it at the source," Hunter Foster said. "And that requires federal standards."
For advocates like Yaggi, a lack of those federal standards goes beyond just just ignoring science.
"They prioritize corporate polluters over people," Yaggi said. "EPA needs to do its job and stop allowing our waterways and communities to serve as dumping grounds for dangerous, unregulated chemicals."
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