Fred Stone, owner of Stoneridge Farm in Arundel, is joined by public health advocates – and one of his calves — on Tuesday to discuss concerns about chemical contamination he said was caused by using municipal sludge as fertilizer. KEVIN MILLER/Portland Press Herald
AUGUSTA — Officials from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection have announced that they will require the testing of all sludge material licensed for land application in the state for per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS).
According to a press release, the DEP has set an aggressive schedule for testing which must be concluded before any sludge material can be land applied.
“The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is committed to addressing the issue of PFAS contamination in Maine and has been working to proactively identify areas of potential concern,” said Maine DEP Commissioner Jerry Reid. “The Department is moving forward with the additional testing requirement to ensure that any future land applications of sludge are safe.”
DEP also sent a letter Friday to producers of sludge materials proposed for land application to inform them of the newly-established test requirement and to direct them to prove that all the sludge is below regulatory levels before it can be applied.
The practice of spreading sludge as a soil amendment has been a common practice in Maine and across the nation for decades. Land application of sludge material occurred long before there was knowledge that it may contain PFAS or the health implications of PFAS.
Earlier this month, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed an Executive Order creating a Governor’s Task Force to mobilize state agencies and other stakeholders to review the prevalence of PFAS in Maine and put forward a plan to address it.
Additional information regarding PFAS can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/pfas/basic-information-pfas.
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