Pennsylvania is proposing, for the first time, to require testing of sewage sludge for forever chemicals before it gets spread on farm fields. The public comment window closes Wednesday, September 2, so anyone who wants a say has only days left.
DEP’s proposal would require wastewater treatment plants to test biosolids quarterly for PFOA and PFOS before land application, with a limit of 20 parts per billion, a threshold borrowed from Michigan’s program. Comments are open through September 2, 2026 via the state’s eComment system.
What the science found
The research behind the proposal is uncomfortable reading. Researchers at the Stroud Water Research Center surveyed ten Pennsylvania farms and found that fields treated with biosolids carried significantly higher concentrations of PFAS than untreated fields. The chemicals did not stay put. Testing documented PFAS moving off farmland into streams, with the potential to reach both surface water and groundwater. In Columbia County, investigators found dangerously high PFAS levels in groundwater and private drinking water wells, likely traced to biosolids application.
What the rule would and would not do
A testing requirement will not remove PFAS from sludge. Sludge could still be spread with PFAS levels up to 20 parts per billion. What the rule would create is data where there is currently a blind spot: quarterly numbers, plant by plant, on what is going onto fields upstream of our intakes and monitoring sites. Public data is what monitoring groups build cases with.
Why it matters for the rest of us
This rule sits at the junction of two things watershed groups track: what runs off farm fields and what shows up downstream. Groups that want stronger limits, broader testing, or better public reporting have until September 2 to say so. Even a short comment from a monitoring organization carries weight, because it comes from people who actually sample the receiving streams.
Reporting from The Allegheny Front, August 24, 2026, including the Stroud Water Research Center findings. Comment deadline September 2, 2026.
