Read the full article by Julie Grant (The Allegheny Front)
“PFAS chemicals are in the water supply, including our drinking water. One way they are getting there: sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer. Pennsylvania and other states are looking to limit contamination from these so-called forever chemicals.
One crucial pathway for PFAS to enter the environment is through sewage treatment plants, like the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) in Pittsburgh.
On a rainy morning in August, Doug Jackson, the authority’s director of operations and maintenance, pointed down into a series of concrete holding blocks.
‘This is the first part of the process that we deal with addressing the majority of the human waste,’ said Jackson.
Wastewater from about 850,000 homes, and 100 industrial sites enters the sewage treatment plant, along the Ohio River in Pittsburgh, and sits in these tanks for a few hours.”…