A new state law aims to protect Marylanders from harmful PFAS chemicals by limiting the amount of the chemicals in biosolid crop fertilizer, but one Maryland farmer says lawmakers aren’t getting to the root of the problem.
“It’s attacking the problem at the wrong end,” said Charles County Farm Bureau President Steve Walter.
Walter grows corn and soybeans about an hour south of Washington, D.C., fertilizing them with sewage sludge that’s converted to biosolids at DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.
“The sewage treatment plants only take in what they get, so they can’t change it,” Walter said. “To stop them is not where you need to stop it. You need to stop PFAS at the source, and that would be where it’s manufactured.”
The new Maryland law aims to restrict PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems. PFAS enters the environment through many common household items that are resistant to grease, water and heat, like non-stick cookware, food packaging and waterproof clothing.
The material gets recycled into food and water, and once it enters the environment, it’s very hard to remove.
“If we lose PFAS as it is, modern life will very much cease to exist,” Walter said. “A lot of things will be gone that people won’t realize that have PFAS in them. I’m not defending PFAS, but it is part of a modern life.”
Lawmakers proposed a separate bill this year to restrict manufacturers from making products containing intentionally added PFAS. But it was withdrawn in April by the House sponsor, Del. Sheila Ruth, a Baltimore County Democrat who did not respond when asked why.
‘Disingenuous’
Cleo Braver, an organic produce and pig farmer on the Eastern Shore, says it’s “disingenuous” to suggest that PFAS is really a manufacturing problem.
“The folks who are applying [biosolids] on the land – which it then is, you know, contaminated for a very long time, if not forever – they’re the last clear chance to save the land from PFAS contamination,” she said.
Braver, who serves as board chair for the Maryland Pesticide Education Network, said it’s much more expensive to farm organically – but she says it’s worth it.
“It’s got to be an important priority to somebody, to a farmer, to not have a negative impact on the environment, and to not to have a negative impact on animal health or human health,” she said.
“Farmers — and home gardeners, if they use it too — they should be aware of the known and potential impacts, and act accordingly, and start turning off the faucet, turning off the spigot, and not applying any more sludge,” she added.
‘Poop gets a bad rap’
Chris Peot, director of resource recovery at DC Water, scooped up a pile of brown biosolids in his hands during Spotlight’s recent visit to the Blue Plains plant. The material is almost visually indistinguishable from natural dirt.
“Poop gets a bad rap, and this is certainly not raw sewage,” Peot said. “I think people just imagine that we’re loading turds up into the truck. This is the product of all of the science and technology that goes into this plant.”
Peot says there’s far more PFAS in annual rainfall than in the biosolids produced at his plant, and he disputes the notion that PFAS gets taken into the fertilized crops when they grow. He says the real way to control PFAS is at the source: manufacturers.
“It really has to do with the products that residents are using,” he said. “So I would like there to be an educational campaign, maybe at the state level, to educate people about the products that they use every day and the alternatives.”
Though PFAS in rainfall is a concern, that doesn’t mean more should be added through sewage sludge, said Peter Blair, a director at Just Zero, a national nonprofit that advocates against environmental pollution.
“PFAS falling from the sky is a reason to eliminate PFAS wherever we can, not a reason to spread more PFAS on farmland and fields,” he said in an email.
Blair also pointed to studies showing that PFAS uptake can occur in crops, adding that more research is needed on the issue.
A concerning study
Peot got a lot of questions from farmers after the EPA published a study in 2025 finding that even a small amount of PFAS in sewage sludge can be harmful to humans, causing him to lose some of his customers over PFAS concerns.
Asked if he thought the farmers had legitimate concerns, he said, “They are stewards of the land, and they have to do what they think is right.”
He added that several of the customers they lost eventually came back.
“There are some that have decided that they don’t want it,” he said. “Not necessarily, I think, because they didn’t trust our science, but because they were getting pressure from the community and from their neighbors.”
The EPA study was published under former President Joe Biden’s administration and has since been walked back under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Walter, for his part, says he’s not concerned about the effect of PFAS on his crops, although he’d “probably stop using it” if it was determined to be unsafe.
“We’d have to buy more commercial fertilizer. That would raise our costs significantly,” he said.
Neither the EPA nor the Maryland Department of Environment has established how much PFAS in sewage sludge is safe, leaving questions about the effect on Maryland crops and Marylanders.
“I eat it,” Walter said. “If I thought it was bad, I wouldn’t be putting it off for somebody else, much less myself.”
Have a news tip? Contact Brooke Conrad at bjconrad@sbgtv.com or 443-578-2126, or contact the Spotlight team at SpotlightOnMaryland@sbgtv.com or 410-467-4670. Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C.
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