This text was taken from an email alert sent out on July 28, 2025. Sign up for email alerts →
Not all biosolids contain PFAS.
Dear supporter,
Access to clean water is paramount to public health and well-being. And yet America’s largest biosolids land-application company (Synagro) is seeking a permit to spread more PFAS-contaminated biosolids on farmland across Orange County, including fields adjacent to Pamunkey Creek, which already has elevated levels of PFAS contamination.
The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is only required to hold a public hearing on this proposed permit — to hear residents’ concerns and consider potential changes — IF there’s significant interest from the public. This is why we’re asking you to email DEQ before Monday, Aug. 4 to request a public hearing. Find instructions below.
Definitions
What are PFAS or “forever chemicals”?
PFAS (polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of thousands of chemicals used in consumer products and industry that are harmful to both human and animal health as well as the environment. Known as “forever chemicals,” they do not break down, but instead build up and persist in our bodies, soil and water and wildlife. They contaminate drinking water, ground and surface waters, soil, livestock and crops. In 2024, the first federal PFAS drinking water standards were established, declaring there is no safe level of exposure to PFAS.
What are biosolids?
Wastewater treatment plants produce solid waste (“sewage sludge”) by removing regulated contaminants from wastewater. Refined, in part, from human and food wastes, sewage sludge is rich in nutrients. It is then treated to remove various toxic contaminants (e.g. heavy metals), dried and marketed to farmers by third parties, such as Synagro, as inexpensive fertilizer.
What’s the Problem?
Sewage sludge can only be disposed of in three ways: applied to the land as biosolids, dumped in a landfill or incinerated. Because of PFAS contamination, there is no perfect solution. While applying it to farmland can offer farmers an inexpensive source of fertilizer and reduce the use of carbon-intensive synthetic fertilizers, land application of biosolids contaminated by PFAS can result in an unacceptable level of risk to human health.
Synagro is currently being sued by landowners in Grandview, Texas for livestock deaths related to the spreading of contaminated biosolids on neighboring properties. The City of Fort Worth subsequently canceled a 10-year contract for biosolids with Synagro.
Unfortunately, Virginia does not require biosolids to be tested for PFAS. Though state law gives DEQ authority to impose testing, the agency has thus far failed to address PFAS-contaminated biosolids.
According to submissions made to DEQ for its pending Orange County permit, Synagro has indicated that it will source its biosolids from 38 waste water treatment plants in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. — 24 of those sources are known to be contaminated with PFAS.
DEQ should not proceed on Synagro’s Orange County permit without a public hearing where the presence of PFAS in the proposed sources and the risk to farmers, residents and the environment is fully considered. We are not discouraging the use of biosolids on farmland, but we are asking DEQ to address the known pressence of PFAS in biosolids, and to give farmers complete information about what’s being spread on their land and crops.
Take Action Before Aug. 4
If just 25 people request it, DEQ must hold a public hearing before issuing a permit. We urge you to send an email to DEQ before Monday, Aug. 4 asking for that public hearing.
Your email should:
- be addressed to Stephanie Bowman at DEQ: [email protected]
- requesta public hearing on “Permit Number VPA00075, Synagro Central, LLC. – Orange County”;
- include your reason for the request for a public hearing;
- include a “brief, informal statement setting forth the factual nature and extent of the your interest” in this issue and the Synagro permit, “including an explanation of how and to what extent such interest would be directly and adversely affected” by the re-issuance of the permit;
- For example: I am a local resident who enjoys fishing, recreation, etc. in the Rappahannock, Rapidan or York River watersheds and I am concerned about contamination of my drinking water. I support local farmers by buying and eating locally-produced food and I care about government transparency in the land application of biosolids, etc.
- For example: I am a local resident who enjoys fishing, recreation, etc. in the Rappahannock, Rapidan or York River watersheds and I am concerned about contamination of my drinking water. I support local farmers by buying and eating locally-produced food and I care about government transparency in the land application of biosolids, etc.
- raise substantial, disputed issues relevant to the re-issuance of the permit;
- For example: The EPA has warned that PFAS present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks, Maryland and other states have taken regulatory action to protect residents from potential harms from PFAS, etc.
- For example: The EPA has warned that PFAS present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks, Maryland and other states have taken regulatory action to protect residents from potential harms from PFAS, etc.
- include your name and postal mailing or email address
Feel free to email or call me if you have any questions or comments, or to let us know that you sent a letter. And if you know anyone who would like to receive these email updates about Orange County, please forward this email to them and let them know they can sign up for updates here.
Lastly, your support makes this work possible. Consider donating to PEC today.
Thank you!
Sarah Parmelee
Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties Field Representative
[email protected]
(540) 347-2334 ext. 7045
