Vermont to step-up monitoring of wastewater facilities for PFAS

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - Vermont environmental officials are preparing to launch a program to measure the amount of PFAS in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The so-called forever chemicals are common in many consumer products from food packaging to Teflon pans to makeup. And those chemicals eventually make their way into landfills and wastewater treatment plants.

The state plans to gather samples of municipal sludge to determine where to focus resources on mitigating PFAS.

“What is that typical user, typical consumer like you and me, what is our contribution as opposed to pointing the finger to an industry and saying, ‘There’s the problem.’ I think we’re going to find that everyone is contributing on some level,” said Eamon Twohig with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.

Vermont is also moving forward with banning several products that include PFAS, to make sure it doesn’t enter the waste stream in the first place.

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