Washingtonians are encouraged to comment on the state Department of Ecology's proposal to reissue a Statewide General Permit for Biosolids Management. Jean Mendoza, with Sierra Club in Yakima, says biosolids is non-liquid sewage sludge with toxins from medications, dishwater, wastewater that end up down the drain or toilet and then put on cropland.

“This may not sound like a big deal, because it's fairly diluted when it gets to the soil but if we have enough of those pharmaceuticals in the biosolids it can affect the microorganisms that live in the cropland.”

Sierra Club is pushing for an end to the usage of 'biosolids' on farmland in Washington. Mendoza added farmers in Maine and Wisconsin that put biosolids on their land and can no longer use their land due to biosolids containing high levels of  PolyFluoroAlkyl Substances, better known as PFAS.

"In Maine, there was a dairy farmer who used biosolids on his soil for a long period of time, biosolids contain PFSAS, he had to kill his cows, can no longer sell his milk because of the high levels of PFAS.”

The statewide general permit expired in September 2020. Click Here to learn more about the Statewide General Permit, or to make your thoughts known.

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