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5/1/2025
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House OKs Cortvriend bill to test biosolids for PFAS
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The legislation is aimed at preventing contamination of food, soil and groundwater at farms
STATE HOUSE – The House of Representatives today approved legislation sponsored by Rep. Terri Cortvriend to require anyone applying for a permit to spread biosolids on land to first test the material for PFAS — per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The legislation now goes to the Senate.
In Rhode Island, land application is not the primary disposal method of biosolids — the solids that are left after sewage is treated — in local sewage treatment facilities. However, because biosolids are nutrient-dense, some farms do use them for fertilizer. Farms that do so must obtain a permit from the Department of Environmental Management.
The legislation (2025-H 5844A) would require that anyone applying for that permit first test the material for PFAS contamination. The legislation also requires that any entity with such a permit submit their material for testing quarterly and report the results to DEM, with the first report due by Dec. 31, 2025.
“The more we learn about PFAS, the clearer it becomes that we need to pay much more attention to where it is and what is being done with it. It’s so ubiquitous that it’s now in virtually everyone’s bodies, and it is no wonder that it is in sewage. If we are going to permit biosolids to be applied agriculturally, they should be tested for PFAS to prevent them from contaminating our food, our livestock and wildlife, and the groundwater that we all share,” said Representative Cortvriend (D-Dist. 72, Portsmouth, Middletown).
Representative Cortvriend introduced the legislation after learning of widespread PFAS contamination of farms in Maine that had used biosolids for fertilizer for decades. The issue first came to light in 2016 when high levels of the chemicals were found in milk produced at dairy farm there. After subsequent testing found contamination of milk from another farm and in groundwater at another, the state began investigating contamination at farms around the state that had used biosolids. More than 60 Maine farms have been identified as having unsafe levels of PFAS contamination in their soil and water, some with such high contamination they were forced to shut down, since crops grown there become contaminated, and animals become contaminated from consuming them and the water. Maine banned the use of biosolids as fertilizer in 2022.
The bill is supported by DEM, Save the Bay, the Rhode Island Farm Bureau, Rhode Island Audubon, and the Rhode Island Land Trust Council.
Representative Cortvriend added that since Rhode Island sewage treatment plants do not generally send biosolids to be used as fertilizer, farms that use biosolids are generally sourcing it from other states. And while Rhode Island is working to reduce PFAS in products used here, biosolids from other states that haven’t made such changes might be even more likely to contain the chemicals.
Representative Cortvriend has been a fierce advocate for reducing PFAS use and contamination in Rhode Island. Her years-long effort resulted in the 2022 passage of legislation prohibiting polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in food packaging as well as a 2024 law that will phase out PFAS in most consumer products sold or manufactured in Rhode Island beginning in 2027, and banned PFAS from firefighting foam beginning this year. She is the cosponsor of another bill that has passed the House this year to prohibit PFAS from firefighters’ protective gear.
PFAS are a family of man-made chemicals used in everything from carpets to frying pan coatings to lipstick. Because their use is so pervasive and they take so long time to break down in nature, they are commonly found in the environment, including in drinking water, and in humans’ bodies.
According to an overview study published in 2021 and an open letter from 171 scientists, all well-studied PFAS have been shown to have a wide range of adverse effects on human health, including altered immune and thyroid function, liver disease, kidney disease, adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes and cancer.
The legislation now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Alana M. DiMario (D-Dist. 36, Narragansett, North Kingstown, New Shoreham) is sponsoring companion legislation (2025-S 0650).
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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