Wisconsin battles waste plants that spread hazardous PFAS

Wisconsin wastewater plants were built to keep pollutants out of the environment, but state regulators have come to recognize they may also be spreading hazardous industrial chemicals in ways that increase health risks. Normal sewage treatment kills bacteria but can’t touch highly fluorinated chemicals known by the acronym PFAS (pronounced “pea-fass”), which have been predicted to be one of the biggest public health threats in coming decades. PFAS typically enter the human body in drinking water contaminated by the heaviest users of the chemicals — military bases, fire departments and manufacturers. One route PFAS takes to drinking water is through users’ sewer drains. Miles of underground sewer lines carry the virtually indestructible synthetic compounds to publicly owned sewage plants, which release them with treated wastewater into public waters, as well as in the form of treated sewage sludge that is applied as fertilizer to farm fields. Operators of the sorts of treatment plants that handle industrial waste are faced with serious difficulties because the state has fallen behind others in setting easily enforceable standards for PFAS, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
In one of several attempts to catch up, regulators at the state Department of Natural Resources said earlier this month they plan to ask more than 170 public treatment plants with industrial customers to test treated wastewater for 36 kinds of PFAS.