When our nation knows that we dump toxic sewage sludge on America's farmland, that's when this will stop. Awareness is everything. Our FAQs, Research Slideshow, and Informative Resources below will help you get informed. Then you'll be ready to help us build national awareness.
Quick answers to common sense questions.
Yes, as our primary means of sewage disposal, the diseased, toxic waste from our nation’s sewer plants—labeled as “biosolids”—is discarded on our nation’s farmland, where crops are grown and cattle are grazed in rural communities where millions of Americans live. Find many facts in the Informative Resources below.
The pollutants in sewage sludge include, but are not limited to PFAS forever chemicals, human pathogens and parasites, heavy metals, poisons, antibiotic resistant bacteria, microplastics, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, hormones, solvents, fuels, drugs, and countless other toxic and persistent chemicals. Find our lab results in the Informative Resources below.
Yes. Sewage sludge is hazardous waste, comprised of forever chemicals, toxins, carcinogens, pathogens, neurotoxins, endocrine disruptors, and countless other harmful pollutants. When applied to farmland, gases, vapors, volatile and semi-volatile compounds, organisms, and particulates escape. Exposure occurs through the air, wind, and dust; stormwater runoff, groundwater, and the natural cycle of water; as well as other vectors. Rural communities where toxic sludge is applied to farmland can have chronic exposure to pollutants with known risks to human health. View our Slideshow of Key Research Findings below. If you live, work or commute near land-applied sewage sludge and feel harmed in any way, REGISTER TODAY on our GET INVOLVED page.
Human food crops, animal feed crops, fiber crops, tobacco and cannabis, and other crops can be grown on toxic sewage sludge containing PFAS, heavy metals and countless other pollutants. Animals can graze on sludged pastureland. Uptake of pollutants in crops is well-documented, as well as in beef and dairy cattle. Labeling is not required, so we do not know which foods are impacted. Find examples of contamination in our Resources below.
U.S. federal rule, 40 CFR Part 503, regulated by the EPA, promotes the use of toxic sewage sludge as fertilizer on agricultural farmland. Why? Our sewer plants are engineered to separate the liquids from solids then treat the liquid and return it to our natural environment. Sewer plants are not engineered for safe handling of solids, nor are they mechanically capable of doing so. So, as our nation's primary means of getting rid of sewage solids, the 503 Rule markets the toxic waste to farmers as "biosolids" fertilizer. Find the troubling, yet insightful history of the 503 Rule in our Informative Resources below.
Simply stated, the 503 Rule doesn’t tell farmers what is in sewage sludge and gives the illusion that it’s a safe and appropriate fertilizer—at little to no cost. They are also enticed by beneficial claims and sometimes lucrative incentives. Not all farmers use sludge; many are strongly opposed. As seen in recent events in Texas, Maine, and Michigan, sewage sludge on farmland can destroy farmers’ lives and livelihoods. Find many of these stories in our Informative Resources below.
Sewer plants are engineered for separating liquids from solids, treating the liquid, and returning it to our natural environment. Sewage solids are the toxic and pathogenic byproduct of wastewater treatment, not the focus of the treatment. It is time for policy and infrastructure solutions dedicated to the safe and responsible management of sewage solids. Read more about the solutions, and why landfilling is not a sustainable solution, in our Informative Resources below.
Please visit our GET INVOLVED page for simple, yet meaningful ways to help. Sign our petition, get a t-shirt, make a donation, and please use the power of your social media to share our mission. Please Follow, Like and Share our social media accounts and ask others to do the same. Awareness will win this battle. If you’ve ever wanted to help a nonpartisan cause for the greater good of our nation… this is it. Join us!
A deeper dive on facts. Clicking on links and pdf documents will take you out of our website. Please return to get more informed and get involved.
U.S. EPA designates the terms “sewage sludge” and "biosolids" as interchangeable. The EPA implements the sewage sludge disposal program in most states, while nine states administer their own. Below, you’ll find the federal 503 Rule and how the “biosolids program” works. Read the decisions to not regulate harmful pollutants. The historical documents, as well as the PR efforts to sell us the idea of “biosolids” are troubling, yet insightful.
Read the highly critical 2018 EPA OIG Report on "biosolids", as well as expert testimony, health warnings, critical assessments, and scientific critiques.
PFAS are just one group among hundreds of thousands of pollutants in sewage sludge. Review EPA reports on known sludge contaminants, along with other credible studies. And remember: these are only the knowns. What about the unknowns?
“Biosolids” are classified as a pollutant by the EPA’s NPDES program. Sewage sludge contaminates life and life-sustaining resources, as shown by these real examples and scientific studies. Then consider this: labeling is not required for food that is grown or grazed on sewage sludge.
Post-COVID-19, there is global acceptance that exposure to an airborne pathogen poses a risk to human health. Because few people are aware of our sewage disposal practices, there is limited knowledge of the exposure they create—not only to airborne pathogens, but also to airborne toxins, carcinogens, forever chemicals, and other harmful pollutants, oftentimes simultaneously, each carrying a known risk to human health.
The "Class B biosolids" applied to farmland in my community meet the standards of the federal 503 Rule. We’ve tested it. You be the judge. Does this look like fertilizer to you, and would you want it near your home or your child’s school?
The files below are our independent lab results showing mercury, hexavalent chromium, highly poisonous metals, dioxin, flame retardants, VOCs/SVOCs, viable pathogens, antibiotic resistance, cryptosporidium, industrial solvents, and the real amount of phosphorus, as well as other harmful pollutants. We’ve also posted additional key findings of our testing and research, like PFAS in farm soil, dioxin next door to a middle school, and the correlation analyses of metals in animal tissue.
You can also read our pediatrician’s 2016 letter of concern, which was ignored. Americans deserve facts about "biosolids".
Classifications of “biosolids” are marketing tactics. Often disguised by the term “compost”, Class A and Class A EQ “biosolids” still contain sewage sludge just at different concentrations and moisture content, yet still contain harmful pollutants despite the claims they are safe and protective of human health. Converting Class B to Class A and continuing with current land-disposal methods is not a viable solution. The claim that Class A is pathogen-free is false. Class A EQ retains many toxins, including PFAS. Read these facts.
There is scientific and regulatory consensus - there is no safe level of exposure to PFAS "forever chemicals". PFAS are in toxic sewage sludge. PFAS are only one family of toxic chemicals among the hundreds of thousands of chemicals in sludge. Legislating PFAS thresholds in sludge does not make sludge safe. PFAS reduction technologies do not eliminate PFAS from sludge. It is incompatible to seek to eliminate exposure to PFAS while continuing to use toxic sewage sludge as fertilizer on farmland.
Decades of funding and influence have generated volumes of pro-biosolids “science” in the name of beneficial-reuse, water environment stewardship, improving soil structure, carbon sequestration, crop yields, cost-savings for farmers, saving the landfills, nutrient replacement, waste innovation, conservation, and the list goes on.
Beware. These are partial stories that can be very misleading. For example, a crop study will not monitor for spreading antibiotic resistance, nor will it tell you about the respiratory infections of downwind neighbors.
And do not be fooled by claims of biosolids being “organic”. Organic literally means “carbon-containing”, which includes things like bacteria, PFAS, benzene, and gasoline. Organic does not mean “USDA Organic”, nor does it mean clean or safe.
Millions of dollars are spent to convince us using sewage sludge as fertilizer is a good idea. The evidence says it's not.
The National Biosolids Data Project (NBDP) is administered by a consortium of “pro-biosolids” advocacy enterprises. Although we do not share their position on the “benefits” of discarding sewage sludge on our nation’s soils, their important work of cataloguing national data is excellent and informative. Find your state’s sewage sludge disposal practices on the pdf below or use the link to the NBDP website.
Community stories of harm and concerns can be found across our nation and go back for many years. The age of a story does not diminish its relevance, but rather illustrates that Americans have been impacted by our sewage disposal practices for decades. From various perspectives, these are just a few examples.
Sewage sludge disposal practices are a global issue. Unfortunately, many nations have taken the path of land-disposing on agricultural farmland. Below are stories from other nations, as well as the global atlas on “biosolids” where you will find an abundance of the same concerning practices and “beneficial claims”.
Silencing dissent is unfortunately a cornerstone of “biosolids policy” and still exists today. Scientists are warned and intimidated. Concerned citizens are harassed. These tactics have been highly effective in keeping our nation’s sewage disposal practices off the national radar and stifling broad research. This is yet another unsavory, but important truth you need to know.
Toxic sewage sludge is also disposed in landfills, nationally and globally. Landfilling is often the convenient, and sometimes necessary, alternative to farmland disposal, but even the EPA acknowledges the risks. Disposing toxic sludge in the landfill creates exposure through leachate and aerosolization. Landfilling is not a sustainable, long-term solution.
Now let’s apply some common sense. Explore these resources and consider their implications to land-applied sewage sludge.
Additional resources for more information about toxic sewage sludge.
Priority one is ending land-application of toxic sewage sludge, so our rural communities, food supply, and natural resources and environment are better protected. But that’s not enough. Why?
Prompted by the harm caused by PFAS forever chemicals in sludge, there is movement in state legislation to restrict or ban land application, which further affirms the problem. In the absence of infrastructure solutions dedicated to sewage solids, local policy changes result in moving sludge to new farm sites or landfilling. Relocating the problem doesn't solve it. Landfilling may prove to be a necessary incremental step to end land application, but it is not a sustainable long-term solution.
It is time for innovative engineering solutions dedicated to the safe disposal of sewage solids. This entails multiple technologies to ensure maximum sludge reduction at existing sewer plants, as well as new innovative infrastructure solutions where sewage solids can be hauled for safe destruction.
Yes, innovation and investment are required. But this can be done. The American people are already paying the cost today with their health, polluted food supply, and harm to natural resources.
Mission503 will lead the way, but we need your help. Get involved today!
