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PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge is spreading across Tennessee lands. The state might intervene.

Photo credit: Bob Brewer / Unsplash - Wastewater treatment plants turn treated sewage into "biosolids." In the U.S., about 60% of biosolids are used on land as fertilizers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Read the full article by Caroline Eggers (WPLN)

“Farmers, landowners and government agencies have been using treated sewage to fertilize land in Tennessee for decades, but the practice is being increasingly scrutinized: Sewage sludge can be contaminated with toxic chemical compounds known as PFAS.

The latest evidence comes from northeastern Tennessee.

Earlier this year, the Sierra Club tested soil, groundwater and drinking water in Sullivan County near historic or current usage sites of sewage sludge, also called ‘biosolids,’ and found PFAS at each location, according to a new report. 

‘It’s a complicated problem,’ said Dan Firth, a waste expert for the Sierra Club’s Tennessee Chapter and author of the report. ‘An immediate thing we can do is stop applying the biosolids now.'”…

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