The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is soliciting feedback on its draft general permits for land application of biosolids. The permits seek to address a variety of contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Proposed language would set monitoring requirements for PFOA and PFOS in biosolids that wastewater treatment plants must follow. It would also allow the codigestion of food waste at those facilities’ digesters.

States have taken a variety of approaches to monitoring and lowering levels of PFAS in biosolids, which the U.S. EPA defines as sewage sludge treated for use as a fertilizer. Pennsylvania’s approach could leave critical decisions about upstream pollution up to local municipalities.