The terrorist attacks of 9/11 reminded Americans of the importance of defending the homeland from all threats–foreign and domestic. Unfortunately, American soil and our water have become hopelessly contaminated with deadly chemicals and neurotoxins. Laws, science and public health are being ignored as the bioterrorism persists today.

The U.S. government enacted the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002 (the Bioterrorism Act) to protect the homeland, including food and water supplies.

Despite these systems and safeguards, 99 percent of us now have highly toxic PFAS in our blood as part of the largest chemistry experiment in world history. Meanwhile, the mismanagement of infectious waste is fueling an unstoppable surge in neurodegenerative disease among humans and wildlife (and possibly livestock). Family farms and public health are being destroyed by bioterrorism.

Most Americans and others around the world are consuming PFAS-contaminated water and/or food, using contaminated products or breathing contaminated air. At least 45 percent of America’s tap water is estimated to have one or more types of the chemicals known as per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, according to a 2023 study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

There are more than 12,000 types of PFAS, not all of which can be detected with current tests; the USGS study tested for the presence of 32 types. PFAS is just the tip of a very large and very toxic iceberg. Unstoppable neurotoxins might pose an even more formidable threat.

Mismanagement Has Weaponized Biosolids

Wastewater is the largest waste stream in the world and possibly the most toxic waste stream in the world. It is largely unregulated. Wastewater treatment facilities in the United States alone process approximately 34 billion gallons of wastewater every day. There was a time when human sewage was a fairly benign substance that cities and towns could disperse naturally without threatening an entire nation. 

Today’s wastewater stream includes everything dumped down the drains and toilets at homes and offices, factories, hospitals, health clinics, slaughterhouses, mortuaries, auto repair shops and much more. It isn’t fertilizer.

We’re all part of the sewage problem, but misinformation, disinformation, incomplete science and more have compounded the problem at all levels. It has caused an environmental catastrophe and a public health disaster. It is still unfolding and gaining momentum.

Wastewater treatment plants are barely able to separate the liquids from the solids in this high-volume, toxic soup. Neutralizing and removing all neurotoxins, forever chemicals and radionuclides, for example, is impossible. Safe handling and disposal of this deadly waste stream is imperative, but the reality is much different. After superficial treatment, the water and the solids are pumped right back into the homeland for reuse. Just a few years ago, sewage sludge killed underwater ecosystems, when dumped at sea.

Today, it is being hyped as fertilizer for farms, ranches, golf courses, parks, ballparks, school grounds, cemeteries, forests and beyond. Like magic, sewage sludge became biosolids and wastewater is now drinking water. The waste stream is the new gold rush. What could go wrong?

Sewage Sludge Kills Ecosystems

In October 1972, Congress enacted the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA), a.k.a. the Ocean Dumping Act, to regulate the dumping of all materials that adversely affect human health, welfare or amenities, or the marine environment. It took the Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 (an amendment to the MPRSA) to prohibit the dumping of municipal sewage sludge, industrial waste and medical waste into the ocean.

Bans were motivated by the discovery of contaminated wastes from sewage-derived microorganisms at public beaches, toxic metals in shellfish beds, and parasites in fish. Sludge can contain heavy metals like cadmium and copper, which sewage treatment plants can’t filter out. Ocean dumping can destroy marine habitats and ecosystems. 

Unfortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been pushing a different story for the past 30 years. In response to the ban on dumping sewage sludge at sea, the EPA expedited a flawed, if not fraudulent, risk assessment and concluded that the toxic waste that destroyed marine ecosystems was actually beneficial to open land, including farmland, ranches, forests, parks, golf courses, school grounds, ballparks and city parks.

Biosolids is a glorified term for sewage sludge. The EPA estimates that more than 2.4 million tons are applied to land annually as fertilizer on farms, pastures, parks, home gardens, and other lands. Biosolids are made from both municipal and industrial waste, and although they are treated to remove pathogens and some other materials, PFAS are not removed during treatment and EPA does not currently limit the amount of PFAS they can contain.

It calls biosolids a cheap fertilizer (they pay farmers to take this toxic waste off their hands). Now, many farms and ranches are paying the ultimate price for this cheap fertilizer.

When applied to land, the toxins in sewage sludge ultimately make it into surface water runoff and groundwater. These solids bake in the sun and are reduced to particles that go airborne. When applied to land, sewage sludge contaminates everything downstream, including our food and water supplies. Plants uptake everything in the soil and water. The extreme weather associated with climate change is spreading this toxic waste far and wide.

When biosolids are applied to soil, they are used mostly for corn for animal feed and energy, followed by hay/grass/forage. Other popular crops for biosolids fertilization are wheat and other grains, followed by Class A EQ products widely used on turfgrass (lawns, erosion control, golf courses, landscaping).

The Sludge Rule

The US EPA regulates biosolids through the “503 Rule” (40 CFR Part 503 Biosolids Rule), which is affectionately known among critics as the sludge rule. The sludge rule is pseudoscience at best. It basically sweeps all risks and unknowns under the rug. It also holds those who manage and mismanage sewage sludge harmless against crimes against nature and crimes against humanity. For example, biosolids are classified into Class A and Class B, with Class A having stricter guidelines and no detectable levels of pathogens. Class A biosolids can be used in public areas, while Class B has restrictions on access and harvests from these contaminated lands. Let’s test those Class A biosolids for PFAS and neurotoxins.

Risk Assessment Flawed

After falsely promoting the virtues of dumping sewage sludge on land for more than 30 years, the U.S. EPA admitted the error of its ways. In 2018, it announced that the risk assessment that it has relied on is actually incomplete. It failed to address all of the known contaminants and the emerging contaminants. It basically admitted that it authorized an illegal and reckless dumping program that has contaminated food, water, air and more. Unfortunately, the EPA failed to stop the practice of dumping sewage sludge on land–public and private. As a result, this illegal dumping program continues to threaten humans, livestock and wildlife.

PFAS are a large group of manufactured chemicals that are used to make everyday products, including cosmetics, carpet, food packaging, Teflon and fire retardants. PFAS are used in aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, and military. PFAS is often listed on products as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane, perfluorononyl dimethicone, perfluorodecalin, and perfluorohexane.

The medical world is still analyzing the full impact of PFAS on human and animal health, but we know that sewage sludge is soaked in these forever chemicals and that biosolids are contaminating food, water and families today. Forever chemicals can increase the risk of many diseases and disorders:

• Decreased fertility, increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women, and lower infant birth weight;
• Accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes in children;
• Decreased response to vaccines in infants and children;
• Higher cholesterol and elevated liver enzymes;
• Increased risk of some cancers, including kidney, testicular, and prostate cancers; and
• Increased risk of thyroid disease, with sex-specific outcomes in women and men.

Unfortunately, the companies who developed and manufactured PFAS knew about many of the dangers associated with this new class of compounds all along. Thanks to negligence and fraud, the vast majority of Americans of all ages are now part of this chemistry experiment. It’s safe to say that PFAS has contaminated most of the food and water supplies around the world. The contaminant also threatens fish, wildlife and livestock.

PFAS + Pathways = Victims

Since PFAS chemicals are found in so many different products, assessing the potential human health and environmental risks are extremely complex. Risks are associated with manufacturing, distribution, usage and disposal.

Thanks to one very tenacious lawyer named Robert Bilott, legal battles against PFAS are gaining momentum. The movie Dark Waters summarizes Bilott’s courageous work and it documents the horrors of Dupont’s deceit. The movie is based on an article written by Nathaniel Rich, a reporter for the New York Times. Bilott is an environmental attorney from Cincinnati. He is known for PFAS lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from West Virginia. Mr. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of forever chemicals.

Thanks to Bilott’s groundbreaking work, San Diego is suing more than 20 companies over water contamination caused by PFAS. The lawsuit claims that 3M, DuPont, Raytheon and others made firefighting foam that contained PFAS and alleges the companies were aware of the toxic nature of the chemicals, but concealed the environmental and public health dangers.

Neurodegenerative Disease Soaring Among Mammals

Unfortunately, PFAS is only part of the toxic threat posed by dumping millions of tons of sewage sludge (biosolids) on land. Neurodegenerative disease is now the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. Most of this surge is caused by a neurotoxin called a prion. Thanks to misinformation, disinformation and overall mismanagement, this unstoppable neurotoxin is spreading through our food, water, health systems and beyond.

Prions are a formidable threat. The government initially classified prions as select agents, which means that they pose an extreme risk to food, water and health systems. Since prions don’t usually kill within days of exposure, they were removed from the list. Neurodegenerative disease has been surging around the world for the past 30 years and prion contamination is driving this silent, but massive pandemic.

Prion disease includes Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker disease (GSS), Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and others. Many of these diseases are related in terms of cause and pathology. The biggest difference between the different prion diseases is the region of the brain that’s under attack. The scientific name for prion disease is transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). As the name implies, all forms of TSE are transmissible. They are impossible to stop.

Since deadly prions spread through the bodily fluids and tissue of those carrying prion disease (milk, blood, saliva, mucus, urine, feces, tissue and skin), that’s a problem for wastewater systems. Prions shed from infected humans are highly transmissible.

Prion disease also is known as mad cow disease in livestock and chronic wasting disease in wildlife. The only difference between these diseases is the species impacted. There is no such thing as a mad cow prion or a CWD prion. An infectious prion is a deadly prion that can jump species barriers with ease. Prions migrate, mutate and multiply. There are now millions of mutations.

Cattlemen in America claim that there is no need to test their livestock for mad cow disease. As long as some livestock are deliberately exposed to prion contamination in biosolids, food safety is a legitimate concern. If we don’t stop dumping sewage on land we must start testing for prion disease, which will cost even more than doing the right thing with toxic waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that prions are in sewage sludge and wastewater–and that there is no way to detect them or stop them. As such, the EPA has never issued guidance on prion management within sewage processing plants. This lack of directive allows budget-strapped states and counties to regulate the practices in a variety of ways that best suit local municipalities and industries.

After years of mismanagement, wastewater treatment plants have become prion incubators and distributors. When released on open land, the prions shed from humans will find more victims. Prions shed from humans are typically the most aggressive because prions mutate as they move up the food chain.

Prions + Pathways = Victims

Managing prion pathways, and preventing new ones, is clearly part of the equation. Reusing components of this waste stream is causing a public health catastrophe. Victims and stakeholders are pushing back. Rightly so. Safer alternatives exist.

According to prion researcher Joel Pedersen at the University of Wisconsin, prions in soil become up to 680 times more infectious. From there, they migrate, mutate and multiply. It’s a real world version of Pandora’s Lunchbox.

“Our results suggest that if prions enter municipal wastewater treatment systems, most prions would bond to sewage sludge, survive anaerobic digestion, and be present in treated biosolids,” Pedersen said. “Land application of biosolids containing prions represents a route for their introduction into the environment. I emphasize the importance of keeping prions out of municipal wastewater treatment systems.”

Prions could end up in sewage treatment plants via slaughterhouses, hospitals, dental offices and mortuaries just to name a few of the pathways. The disposal of sludge represents the greatest risk of spreading prion contamination in the environment. Pedersen also found that sewage treatment does not inactivate prions. Therefore, prions are lethal, mutating, migrating and multiplying everywhere sewage (biosolids) is dumped.

Prions in humans have worked their way up the food chain, so prions shed from humans are typically much more aggressive and they don’t respect species barriers. Prions in sewage and other forms of infectious waste are driving the explosive growth in neurodegenerative disease among our friends and family members. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, ALS, and other forms of neurodegenerative disease have never been higher. Neurodegenerative disease is the fastest-growing cause of death in the world. There is no vaccine and no cure. Prevention is the only defense.

Prions shed from humans in municipal sewage sludge have caused much of the explosive growth in chronic wasting disease–in the wild and on deer farms. This prion super-highway puts livestock at risk of mad cow disease. Crops grown in sludge also can uptake and transmit deadly prions.

How has such a dangerous dumping program escaped laws, including the Clean Water Act and the Bioterrorism Act? Like forever chemicals, prion contamination lasts forever.

How Much Sewage Is Dumped On Land In Your State? The Environmental Working Group estimates that 5 percent of the nation’s cropland, or 20 million acres, could be using sewage sludge as fertilizer. Unfortunately, it is being dumped on open land of all types, including ranches, golf courses, parks and school grounds. Follow this link to see how much sewage is reclaimed and dumped in your state. https://www.biosolidsdata.org/ 

Safer Alternatives Available. Surveys of Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse Facilities show that the average costs to have a contractor take and manage solids from wastewater treatment plants is approximately:

• $49 per wet ton for composting; 
• $58 for landfill disposal; 
• $62 for land application; and 
• more than $95 for incineration. 

It’s cheaper to landfill this toxic crap than to dump it in our watersheds and in our communities. Most state regulators have few resources dedicated to biosolids oversight.

Nations, States and Communities Banning Biosolids

There are no labeling or disclosure requirements for food grown in sewage sludge. However, some companies, such as Heinz and Del Monte, prohibit the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer for their products. Fortunately, most nations, states and counties are waking up to the consequences of bad public policy:

• In 1995, the Netherlands banned the spreading of sludge on its own farmland, but later began exporting it to other countries. 

• In 2000, the U.S. Department of Agriculture finally ruled that food grown in sewage sludge can not be classified as organic. Only by purchasing food with the certified organic seal can you be sure that your food was not grown in sewage sludge.

• In 2003, Switzerland banned the use of sludge due to concerns that sludge contains harmful substances and pathogenic organisms that could damage soil, harm public health, and negatively impact food quality.

• In 2004, the Superior Court of Richmond County, GA dismissed claims filed by McElmurray Farm that land-applied biosolids caused the deaths of dairy cows in the 1990s. In 2008, a federal judge ordered the Agriculture Department to compensate McElmurray whose land was poisoned by sludge from the waste treatment plant here. His cows died by the hundreds. The judge ordered the government to compensate dairy McElmurray because 1,730 acres were poisoned. The sludge contained levels of arsenic, toxic heavy metals and PCBs two to 2,500 times federal health standards. The level of thallium — an element once used as rat poison — found in the milk was 120 times the concentration allowed in drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency.

• In 2014, health foods grocer Whole Foods stopped sourcing produce from growers who use sewage sludge on their farms.

• In 2022, in response to PFAS contamination, Maine became the first state in the nation to end the beneficial use (land application) of wastewater biosolids, which created a series of challenges for Maine’s wastewater systems and produced landfill capacity problems. Several farms have been shut down due to PFAS contamination. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have met with the farmers in her state who have found PFAS contamination. High levels of PFAS have shut down dairies, and at least some organic vegetable farmers have voluntarily stopped selling produce after water levels showed high concentrations of PFAS chemicals.

“We are finding it all over our state,” Pingree said. “Some of the farmers don’t have the time to wait for the state, so they are paying for their own testing. They are finding extremely high levels of contamination in their bodies and in their children’s bodies. I just can’t say enough how hard it is to witness what is going on.”

Pingree credited Maine lawmakers for agreeing this year to spend $100 million to help farmers whose ground has been contaminated. Decades of using sewage sludge as a fertilizer has ruined farms, Pingree said.

Maine’s crackdown began in 2017, when Fred and Laura Stone had to shut down their dairy farm due to extreme levels of PFAS contamination caused by spreading sludge on their farm decades ago. Maine has since created a $60 million fund to help PFAS-impacted farmers.

• In 2022, Michigan seized Jason Grostic’s farm and banned the sale of milk or meat because of PFAS contamination. States such as Michigan have been finding high volumes of PFAS chemicals in city water and wells. But along with that, PFAS chemicals attach themselves to biosolids such as sewage sludge, which is how farmers in a few states are learning that their soils are contaminated. Michigan set a standard of not allowing PFAS for land applications containing more than 150 parts per billion, and biosolids such as sewage sludge must be tested before it can be applied on land. Grostic, who lost his livelihood and property value, said other farmers need to understand what can happen with PFAS and sewage sludge.

• In 2022, officials in Maine and Michigan each released warnings against eating fish from several streams, rivers and lakes because of high levels of PFAS/PFOS.

• In New Mexico, in 2022, four years after milk from his dairy cattle tested positive for high levels of PFOS, Art Schaap finally euthanized the last of his 4,000-head dairy herd. Schaap learned in October 2018 that his dairy farm had been contaminated through groundwater just outside Cannon Air Force Base, where PFOS-laden foam chemicals were used extensively to train firefighters. Schaap’s dairy was prevented from selling both milk and cattle. The cattle were moved to clean water in February 2020. USDA officials wanted to see if the cows would shed the PFOS from their bodies once the cows were given clean water. But tests never showed any signs of improvement. Schaap, along with some dairies in Maine, received indemnity payments from USDA for dumping their milk.

Courtney Briggs, the senior director of government affairs at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said PFAS contamination is an emerging and alarming issue for its members.

“It sets off alarm bells and starts to create anxiety when you have a situation where, unbeknownst to you and through no fault of your own, your land could be contaminated by a forever chemical,” Briggs said. 

• In Texas, five farmers are suing Synagro for providing sewage sludge to a neighboring farmer who spread it on his land. The plaintiffs claim that the sewage sludge contaminated their water supply, affected their health, damaged their land and killed their livestock.

Dana Ames, an environmental crimes investigator with the Johnson County Constable’s Office, collaborated with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to test the farmers’ water, soil, wildlife and livestock. Results found high levels of PFAS in well water, surface water, soil, fish and a stillborn calf. Ames also obtained a sample of Synagro’s fertilizer and had it tested. Many of the PFAS found in the sample were also present on the farms.

“The results we got back are very damning,” said Ames, who is pursuing a criminal case on the matter. 

Ames predicts more lawsuits as more people nationwide test for contaminants from sludge. The lawsuit claims Synagro should have known the risks of the product and failed to warn users.

• In 2024, the biggest water district in Maine is suing manufacturers of so-called forever chemicals in the hopes of recouping costs of monitoring and treating polluted wastewater. The Portland Water District lawsuit comes as the cost of the disposal of PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge has doubled from $1.6 million to $3.2 million over the last three years, and Portland has agreed to develop a regional biosolids treatment facility proposal with cost estimates ranging from $150 million to $250 million. The Portland Water District lawsuit focuses on wastewater. The district is already in compliance with strict EPA limits on certain PFAS in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level possible.

Wastewater Isn’t  Drinking Water

Unfortunately, the same regulators who sold us on the virtues of sewage sludge based on a fraudulent risk assessment also have sold us on the virtues of turning sewage into drinking water. Are those risk assessments “incomplete?” For example, how are they accounting for deadly prions? How do they establish a safe level for PFAS? Where is the data?

Summary:

• Dumping sewage sludge on land in the U.S. and other countries has always been illegal because there has never been a comprehensive, credible risk assessment that proves that dumping a toxic soup of neurotoxins, carcinogens, radionuclides, endocrine disruptors and PFAS on farms, ranches, golf courses, school grounds, ball parks, city parks, gardens and forests is safe; 
• The EPA should have immediately stopped all dumping of sewage sludge on land in November 2018, when it announced that its risk assessment is incomplete. It should be stopped immediately;
• The states and counties should immediately disclose where sewage sludge has been dumped since the inception of the program. The property owners, their families and their neighbors should be notified about the past and present risks and independent health studies should begin immediately. Test all local water sources for contaminants. Remediate and contain the damage;
• The US EPA should notify every nation that relied on its fraudulent risk assessment regarding sewage dumping. Canada, for example, just copied the one from the United States and called it a day. Since then, it had its first confirmed case of mad cow disease and it has given up on the fight against chronic wasting disease;
• Make it mandatory to notify all land buyers, banks and insurers about the toxic history of sewage dumped on the properties that they underwrite or finance;
• Compensate stakeholders for loss of property, injury and wrongful death;
• Enforce the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, the Clean Water Act and other regulations designed to defend the homeland and more than 300 million Americans;
• Review the risk assessment for reclaimed water that is being reused as drinking water and to replenish aquifers. How are they removing all PFAS and prions? and
• Reform the EPA immediately to protect citizens and our vital natural resources. Several former EPA Administrators are leading that request.
• Tell the truth about the prion pandemic. There is not a vaccine that prevents it. There isn’t a cure. It is always fatal. All forms are transmissible. There is no credible, scientific research that states otherwise. Misinformation, disinformation and wishful thinking are reckless. Yes, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease spread through bodily fluids, including blood and mucus. They spread through cell tissue, including skin. A mortician will not touch the body of someone who died of prion disease. Family, friends and caregivers beware.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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Thanks to a massive chemistry experiment that has gone horribly wrong, most people in the United States, and likely the world, have a harmful chemical in their bodies. It’s unknown how many people have been sickened and killed by one of the largest industrial crimes in history.

In an attempt to turn the tide, the City of San Diego is suing more than 20 companies over water contamination from a toxic chemical called PFAS. The lawsuit claims that 3M, DuPont, Raytheon and others made firefighting foam that contained PFAS and alleges the companies were aware of the toxic nature of the chemicals, but concealed the environmental and public health dangers.

These chemicals have leached into our soil and water, which means that food supplies have been contaminated. People are most likely exposed by consuming PFAS-contaminated water or food, using products made with PFAS, or breathing air contaminated with PFAS.

PFAS are a large, complex, and ever-expanding group of manufactured chemicals that are widely used to make everyday products and firefighting products. For example, PFAS keeps food from sticking to cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains and water, and create firefighting foam that is more effective. PFAS are used in aerospace, automotive, construction, electronics, and military. A 2021 study tested 231 cosmetic products. More than half of those tested contained PFAS.

PFAS may be listed on the ingredient list as PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), perfluorooctyl triethoxysilane, perfluorononyl dimethicone, perfluorodecalin, and perfluorohexane. In 2016, the FDA barred the use of certain types of PFAS, called long-chain PFAS, from food packaging. It was found to have toxic effects on animal and human health. Nothing like conducting product research on an unsuspecting public.

The problem is that PFAS molecules are composed of an indestructible chain of carbon and fluorine atoms. The carbon-fluorine bond is extremely strong, which means that these chemicals do not degrade in the environment or in our bodies. In fact, scientists are unable to estimate an environmental half-life for PFAS, which is the amount of time it takes 50 percent of the chemical to disappear. Because of this characteristic, PFAS are referred to as forever chemicals.

Since PFAS don’t break down, they accumulate in the tissue of humans, wildlife and livestock. PFAS causes cancer, liver, thyroid, and kidney disease. They weaken the immune system, alter the metabolism, and disrupt the reproductive system. They cause infertility, miscarriage and birth defects. They cause neurological disorders. It also can blacken the teeth of those exposed. Much more research is needed to fully understand the public health and ecological impacts.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) found PFAS in the blood of 97 percent of Americans. PFAS also is commonly found in breast milk.

It’s safe to say that PFAS has contaminated most of the food and water supplies around the world. The contaminant also is taking its toll on fish, wildlife and livestock.

City Attorney Mara Elliott filed suit against more than 20 chemical companies for allegedly manufacturing toxic chemicals that have been detected in San Diego area water sources. The lawsuit claims that these chemical companies manufactured and concealed the toxic nature of firefighting foams that have contaminated drinking water supplies around San Diego for decades. It could be the first of thousands of related lawsuits around the world. These forever chemicals are also in Teflon, repellants and other products. More than 9,000 PFAS have been identified.

The lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Diego on behalf of the People of California and the City of San Diego, seeks to force the companies to pay for the costs of cleanup since they profited from selling the products containing these dangerous chemicals. Fire-suppression foams, for example, used a class of chemicals called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS also are used in products that repel oil and water.

PFAS are called forever chemicals because this carbon-fluorine bond is incredibly strong, which makes PFAS impossible to break down in the natural environment and in our bodies. They remain highly toxic forever. For public health and the sake of entire ecosystems, those toxic chemicals must be removed from waters, soils, and other resources to contain the threat.

A single fire or training exercise can result in the discharge of thousands of gallons of PFAS foam, which leaches into the soil and groundwater. The residue gets carried away by surface water runoff, which contaminates streams, rivers, reservoirs and oceans. Of course, a toxic nightmare like this has likely taken a devastating toll on firefighters, not to mention those involved in the manufacture of these toxins. The movie Dark Waters with Mark Ruffalo does a thorough job of documenting the horrors of Dupont’s deceit. It also introduces us to the health effects.

The City has detected PFAS in certain drinking water supplies, storm water, wastewater, and other natural resources. It has taken initial steps to help prevent public exposure to PFAS. The cost to remove PFAS will be substantial and the task may be impossible.

“These polluters were interested primarily in profits and secrecy,” Elliott said. “This lawsuit will hold them accountable, restore the environment, and protect the health of today’s San Diegans and future generations. 3M, Dupont, and the others have known for decades that the PFAS that they developed, manufactured, and sold were toxic and that their intended use would contaminate the environment and jeopardize public health. We have documents showing that one of 3M’s chief scientists resigned in frustration over the company’s refusal to investigate the toxicity of PFAS, calling it the ‘most onerous pollutant since PCBs.’ ”

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, many PFAS chemicals break down slowly, if at all, which is why they are often called forever chemicals. Over time and exposure to certain levels of PFAS have been linked to health issues. Although these two compounds are no longer made in the United States, chemical manufacturers have replaced them with alternative PFAS, such as GenX, which has already been found in groundwater, rain and air in the United States.

“For years and years, we’ve known the military’s heavy use of PFAS-based firefighting foam has impacted service members, their families and surrounding communities,” said Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA).

The director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Environmental Health called widespread contamination by PFAS chemicals one of the most important public health issues for the next several decades.

The lawsuit claims that the chemicals have been detected in wastewater from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and South Bay Water Reclamation Plant. The lawsuit doesn’t seek damages on behalf of residents who have already been sickened and those who have died. It doesn’t seek medical monitoring for residents, former residents and visitors who drank the water, became sick. It doesn’t seek help for those who have already died. It doesn’t seek medical monitoring for thousands (probably millions) who could develop medical conditions in the future.

The human cost and the cost to pets, livestock, wildlife and sea creatures could bankrupt these companies, which is likely why this lawsuit isn’t going that direction, yet. As the movie Dark Waters revealed, scientists at DuPont referred to exposed humans as “receptors.”

Dark Waters is extremely accurate when compared to the true events, which makes it all the more upsetting. The script is based on the 2016 New York Times article “The Lawyer Who Became DuPont’s Worst Nightmare,” written by journalist Nathaniel Rich. That courageous lawyer is Robert Bilott, an American environmental attorney from Cincinnati, Ohio. Bilott is known for the lawsuits against DuPont on behalf of plaintiffs from West Virginia. Bilott has spent more than twenty years litigating hazardous dumping of the chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid.

In addition to the contaminated water, cities must rethink the logic of dumping sewage sludge on farms, ranches and other open spaces. It’s permanently contaminating the soil, groundwater and water runoff with PFAS and other toxins. Since plants absorb water and nutrients from the contaminated soil, crops are contaminated with PFAS, prions and others toxins found in biosolids.

The U.S. alone dumps more than 100 million tons of this toxic, infectious waste on farms, forests, playgrounds, golf courses and beyond every year. The EPA no longer stands behind the risk assessment that once claimed that dumping sewage sludge on land is a safe practice. The practice should be banned. Safer alternatives exist. In fact, dumping biosolids on land instantly qualifies property as a Superfund site. Banks and insurance companies themselves should step up and demand reform before their assets and liabilities bankrupt them.

In ‘Fluoropolymers’ the unit that repeats over and over is a simple carbon atom with two fluorine atoms attached; PTFE (Teflon) for non-stick pans is based on fluoropolymers. The slightly more complex ‘Fluorinated side-chain polymers’ are used in textile finishes to give stain resistance and water repellent qualities.

Not all PFAS are the same. The very large polymer PFAS, such as PTFE or fluorinated side-chain polymers used on textiles, are often considered too big to be taken up by our bodies, and therefore unlikely to cause harm to humans. However, harmful non-polymer forms of PFAS are used in the production of PFAS polymers. These harmful forms can also be created as the polymers breakdown.

Until recently, PFOA and PFOS were the most commonly used PFAS in production of these polymers. They are the focus of the vast majority of research into PFAS so far and they are the ones that are heavily restricted or banned due to proven impacts on the environment and human health. These are sometimes referred to as C8 PFAS, based on their chain length. In light of both initiatives and legal restrictions, there has been an increase in the use of C6 PFAS, some of which are restricted.

To limit dangerous PFAS exposure through contamination and overall use, the Environmental Protection agency is taking the following steps. Hopefully, it will go much further much faster:

• Hold manufacturers or facilities that pollute water and soil sources accountable;
• Protect vulnerable communities that are at risk for high PFAS exposure;
• Spot potential problems PFAS can cause throughout its long life cycle;
• Lower PFAS exposure and risk in the first place;
• Continue research to understand the long-term harm for humans and the environment; and
• Develop methods to test, measure, remove, and destroy PFAS.

To ensure truly sustainable use, the full chemical lifecycle of any product needs to be understood before it’s rolled out for mass production and widespread use. Additionally, a lack of evidence of harm does not constitute, and should not be considered as, evidence of safety. PFAS should have never seen the light of day.

To see a map of PFAS exposure in the U.S., click here.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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The United States produces about 33 billion gallons of wastewater every day. Meanwhile, agriculture uses about 128 billion gallons of water every day. The government hopes to close the gap with municipal wastewater reuse and by recapturing and reusing about 45 billion GPD of water that runs off cropland.

Within the next 10 years, 40 out of 50 state water managers expect to face freshwater shortages in their states. In certain situations, water conservation and efficiency measures may not be enough to meet anticipated increases in demand. Water managers and users are increasingly evaluating reuse options to help diversify and extend their supplies.

Safe and reliable water supplies for human consumption, agriculture, business, industry, recreation, and healthy ecosystems are critical to our nation’s communities and economy. Due to various pressures, 80 percent of U.S. states anticipate water shortages in some parts of their states in the next decade. Communities, agriculture, and businesses are looking to diversify their supply portfolios to meet current and future needs. Water reuse (also commonly known as water recycling or water reclamation) represents a major opportunity to assure the quality of and supplement existing water supplies from industrial process water, agricultural return flows, municipal wastewater, oil and gas produced water, and storm water collection.

Water scarcity is the major concern that impacts the global economy and the livelihood of mankind.

Climate change, rapid population growth, freshwater pollution, and depletion are among the factors that aggravate the situation. Although not yet exhaustively exploited, reclamation and reuse of wastewater are considered as potential mechanisms to mitigate the challenge. In relation to reclamation, conventional wastewater treatment plants are designed to remove organic matter, total solids, and nutrients but fail to remove the emerging micro-pollutants.

Water reuse is not without significant challenges, particularly related to protection of public health, the environment, and protection of end use quality and needs (e.g., food safety, groundwater/aquifer protection). Inset 6 summarizes examples of these challenges and barriers to water reuse. Recycled water may not be an optimal source in all situations and local decision makers are encouraged to assess the advantages and disadvantages of reuse for their communities.

A decentralized wastewater treatment system is another potential and emerging approach for sustainable water reuse at the point of the wastewater generation. However, its application is not exclusively independent of the centralized system; rather the integration of the two systems is recommendable to depend on the local situations.

To remove micro-pollutants, integrating advanced wastewater technologies should be considered as well as advanced analytical instruments for proper monitoring. Although the reuse of reclaimed water in crop irrigation is a well-established practice, it lacks uniformity across the globe.

Furthermore, if not properly monitored, the reuse of reclaimed water also has adverse effects on the soil properties and public health. Therefore, the aim of this work is to review the impacts of global freshwater scarcity, water resources management and monitoring practice, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment technologies and experience of reusing reclaimed water, particularly in agricultural irrigation.

Over the past several decades, agriculture, industry, and communities have demonstrated the value of reusing water, largely in response to various forms of water crises such as drought or source water contamination. Proponents of water reuse can tout the increased water security, sustainability, and resilience. Some of these reuse projects include:

• Israel reuses approximately 87 percent of its treated wastewater;
• Singapore uses reclaimed water to meet 30 percent of its total water demand;
• Orange County, California recycles about 100 million gallons of treated sewer water every day and transforms it into drinking water that exceeds all state and federal drinking water standards (standards that are flawed). The City Of San Diego is investing in a similar plan;
• The Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) in southern California is converting wastewater into water that can be reused (currently 35 percent of the EMWD’s water supply portfolio), regularly repurposing and selling 100 percent of its recycled water for use in agricultural, irrigation, landscaping, and industrial applications. The EMWD;
• uses treatment facilities and storage ponds to ensure year-round water availability, drought-proofing, and setting up the community for future urban development. The EMWD is also exploring future uses of recycled water, including recharging local groundwater supplies that could then be extracted for drinking water;
• The Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority in Virginia treats wastewater for recharge to the Occoquan Reservoir. Currently about 50 MGD of treated wastewater is recycled, which, depending on hydrologic conditions, is 10 to 90 percent of the drinking water reservoir inflow;
• The F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center in Gwinnett County, Georgia, treats up to 60 MGD of wastewater effluent for surface water recharge to Lake Lanier, while also recovering phosphorus and methane gas;
• Scottsdale Water Campus (AZ) reuses up to 1.7 billion gallons of treated wastewater annually through aquifer recharge;
• Gillette Stadium (MA), which serves 69,000 people on game day, performs onsite reuse of wastewater for toilet flushing and groundwater recharge;
• The Carrabassett Valley Sanitary District (ME) provides treated wastewater to Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Resort to generate snow. Snow Bowl in Flagstaff, (AZ) also makes snow from reclaimed wastewater;
• The Denver Zoo in Colorado, in partnership with Denver Water, has reduced its water consumption by 42 percent, using reclaimed water for irrigation, enclosure washdown, and animal swimming pools. Overall, 35 percent of the zoo’s water comes from Denver Water’s Recycling Plant;
• The Tres Rios Environmental Restoration Project in Arizona pumps treated wastewater effluent through 700 acres of Salt River wetlands, creating wildlife habitat and reducing flood risk; and
• Microsoft teamed with the City of Quincy (WA) to build a water treatment plant, which provides reclaimed water for cooling at data centers and injection into the local aquifer.

The Water Security Grand Challenge is a White House initiated, DOE led framework to advance transformational technology and innovation to meet the global need for safe, secure, and affordable water. One goal is to double resource recovery from municipal wastewater by 2030. Unfortunately, that lofty vision is based on incomplete risk assessments, which makes the whole concept illegal if not criminal.

The development of the draft Action Plan was guided by the following key principles:

• Protect public health. The paramount need to protect public health, given the array of chemical and pathogenic contaminants that may exist in sources of water for potential reuse applications. Protection of public health is central to virtually all the potential uses.

• Protect the environment and ecosystems. Recognize water reuse can have both positive (e.g., ecosystem restoration) and negative (e.g., diminished in-stream flows) impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

If these guiding principles are sincere, it’s even more justification to slow down and review the risk assessments and the epidemiology. These practices are contributing to a public health disaster now.

The Problem With Prions

Neurodegenerative disease has been surging around the world for the past 30 years. It’s the fastest-growing cause of death and it will soon be the leading cause of death. Scientists have finally confirmed that Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of neurodegenerative disease are forms of prion disease, which means that they are highly infectious.

Prions (PREE-ons) are a deadly and unstoppable form of protein that migrates, mutates, multiplies and kills with unparalleled efficiency. Prions cause fatal neurodegenerative disease in humans and other mammals by converting the cellular version of prion protein into a toxic form that erodes the brain and body. Prion disease often is described as a wasting disease that causes a loss of body mass and brain mass.

Dr. Stanley Prusiner, an American neuroscientist from the University of California at San Francisco, earned a Nobel Prize in 1997 for discovering and characterizing prions and prion disease. President Obama awarded Prusiner the National Medal of Science in 2010 to recognize the importance of his research. Important reforms to policies to protect public health, however, have been elusive.

Prion disease also is known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE). The operative word is “transmissible.” Prusiner claims that all forms of TSE are caused by infectious prions.

Prions + Pathways = Victims

Prion pathways threaten each and every person on the planet. The greatest prion pathway in the world is human sewage. It’s contaminating food and water supplies with deadly prions now. It’s been going on for years, but it’s worse than ever now. In other mammals, it’s called different things, but prion disease has been found in camels, dolphins, elephants, mink, cats and many other species. The suggestion of a reliable species barrier against thousands, if not millions, of mutations is ludicrous.

Prion disease causes memory loss, impaired coordination, abnormal movements and overall wasting of the mind and body. Victims become prion incubators and distributors. So do wastewater treatment plants.

Claudio Soto, PhD, professor of neurology at the University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and his colleagues confirmed the presence of prions in urine. Prions infect the entire body and all bodily fluids of its victims, including blood, mucus and saliva. Caregivers for anyone with neurodegenerative disease beware.

“Our findings open the possibility that some of the sporadic Alzheimer’s disease cases may arise from an infectious process, which occurs with other neurological diseases such as mad cow disease and its human form, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease,” said Claudio Soto, Ph.D., professor of neurology at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, part of UT Health. “The underlying mechanism of Alzheimer’s disease is very similar to the prion diseases. It involves a normal protein that becomes misshapen and is able to spread by transforming good proteins to bad ones. The bad proteins accumulate in the brain, forming plaque deposits (and inflammation), which kill neuron cells in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Soto also confirmed that plants uptake prions from the soil and water. The plants become fatally infectious to those who consume them. Even wildlife and sea mammals are contracting brain disease from people because of the dumping of infectious waste on farms, ranches and forests. Humans, wildlife and livestock are vulnerable to prion disease via crops and plants grown on land treated with infectious waste (sewage sludge, biosolids and reclaimed wastewater).

In humans, the prion spectrum includes Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)–the most aggressive version. The difference between these diseases is very slight and often indistinguishable to neurologists. Millions of people have CJD, which is clearly an aggressive prion disease. CJD has not been declared a reportable disease across most nations.

Prions are such a formidable threat that the U.S. government enacted the Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, which included a provision to halt research on prions in all but two laboratories. The U.S. government initially classified prions as select agents that pose an extreme risk to food, water and health systems. Today, governments don’t regulate prions at all.

As such, millions of caregivers are being misinformed, misguided and exposed to an aggressive prion disease. So are friends and family. Unfortunately, Prusiner’s science is being ignored and we all are facing a public health disaster because of the negligence and reckless disregard for public health. In addition to the other prion pathways in the world, wastewater treatment plants have become weapons of mass destruction.

Wastewater treatment plants are collecting points for prions from infected humans. The sewage treatment process can’t stop prions from migrating, mutating and multiplying before being discharged into the environment where they can kill again. Wastewater treatment plants are spreading infectious waste far and wide because they are incapable of stopping prions. As such, all by-products and discharges from wastewater treatment plants are infectious waste, which are contributing to the global epidemic of neurodegenerative disease among humans, wildlife and livestock.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed that prions are in sewage and that there has been no way to detect them or stop them. As such, the EPA has never issued guidance on prion management within wastewater treatment plants. Unfortunately, the EPA’s risk assessment on sewage sludge (biosolids) was prepared before the world of science knew about prions. The agency continues to cling to its antiquated sludge rule crafted back in the dark ages. It does, however, consider prions an “emerging contaminant of concern.” Meanwhile, its outdated risk assessments are promoting a public health disaster. The neurotoxins found in sewage, including heavy metals, also are contributing to the global spike in autism, which follows the same timing and trajectory as the spike in neurodegenerative diseases.

“Since it’s unlikely that the sewage treatment process can effectively stop prions, adopting measures to prevent the entry of prions into the sewer system is advisable,” said the Toronto Department of Health, November 2004.

Once unleashed on the environment, prions remain infectious. They migrate, mutate and multiply as they infect crops, water supplies, wildlife, livestock, sea mammals and humans. According to prion researcher Joel Pedersen at the University of Wisconsin, prions in soil become up to 680 times more infectious. From there, they migrate, mutate and multiply. It’s a real world version of Pandora’s Lunchbox.

“Our results suggest that if prions enter municipal wastewater treatment systems, most prions would bond to sewage sludge, survive anaerobic digestion, and be present in treated biosolids,” Pedersen said. “Land application of biosolids containing prions represents a route for their introduction into the environment. I emphasize the importance of keeping prions out of municipal wastewater treatment systems.”

Pedersen also found that sewage treatment does not inactivate prions. Therefore, prions are lethal, mutating, migrating and multiplying everywhere sewage (biosolids) is dumped.

Prions could end up in sewage treatment plants via slaughterhouses, hospitals, dental offices and mortuaries just to name a few of the pathways. The disposal of sludge represents the greatest risk of spreading prion contamination in the environment. Plus, we know that pathogens, pharmaceutical residue and chemical pollutants found in sewage sludge are taken up by plants and vegetables.”

Thanks to the mismanagement of infectious waste, including sewage, the animal world is contracting prion disease from humans. They also are passing it among themselves via their own bodily fluids. When it comes to prion disease, species barriers are a myth.

Unfortunately, prions linger in the environment, homes, hospitals, nursing homes, dental offices and beyond infinitely. Prions defy all attempts at sterilization and inactivation. If they can’t stop prions in the friendly and sterile confines of an operating room, they can’t stop them in the wastewater treatment plant.

The risk assessments prepared by the U.S. EPA for wastewater treatment and sewage sludge are flawed and current practices of recycling this infectious waste are fueling a public health disaster. The groundbreaking disclosure is called “EPA Unable to Assess the Impact of Hundreds of Unregulated Pollutants in Land-Applied Biosolids on Human Health and the Environment.”

The report starts out by admitting that “The EPA’s controls over the land application of biosolids were incomplete or had weaknesses and may not fully protect human health and the environment. The EPA consistently monitored biosolids for nine regulated pollutants. However, it lacked the data or risk assessment tools needed to make a determination on the safety of 352 pollutants found in biosolids. The agency cannot determine whether biosolids pollutants with incomplete risk assessments are safe.”

Sewage sludge is the solid, semisolid or liquid residue generated during the treatment of domestic sewage. When sludge materials go through additional processing steps and treatment to meet EPA standards for land application, they are referred to as biosolids.

The conclusion of the report can be extended to all byproducts of the wastewater treatment process. Pull out those risk assessments and find the area that explains how prion risks are being mitigated to assure public health. Unfortunately, that vital section is missing.

Many risks are not addressed, including prions and radioactive waste. They don’t mention prions or radiation because there is no answer. Most nations are making the same mistake. We’re dumping killer proteins on crops, parks, golf courses, gardens, ski areas, school grounds and beyond. Wind, rain and irrigation spread these contaminants and many more throughout our communities and watersheds. We are injecting unsafe water into our drinking water supplies and aquifers. We are using prion-laced water to irrigate our crops. Answers begin with the truth. It’s time to demand answers about prion contamination and mismanagement around the world.

Greener Cities is a division of Crossbow Communications. Greener Cities is a resource for sustainable and resilient cities and communities around the world.

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