HB 1443

Owners of sewage treatment works; land application, marketing, or distributing of sewage sludge; perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances; testing requirements. Requires any owner of a sewage treatment works land applying, marketing or distributing sewage sludge in the Commonwealth to collect quarterly a representative sample of the finished sewage sludge product and have such sample analyzed by an accredited laboratory for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Method 1633. The bill requires such owner to submit such analysis to the Department of Environmental Quality. The bill restricts or prohibits land application of sewage sludge and requires the owner to send the test results to the landowner of every property at which the owner intends to land apply such sewage sludge if the analysis reveals certain concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate or perfluorooctanoic acid in such sewage sludge. The foregoing provisions of the bill have a delayed effective date of January 1, 2027. Effective in due course, the bill directs the Department to modify all existing Virginia Pollution Abatement or Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits prior to January 1, 2027, consistent with the provisions of the bill. The bill also directs the Department to convene a work group to develop certain recommendations to address the occurrence of PFAS in sewage sludge within the Commonwealth and report the findings of the work group to the Governor and the Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources and House Committee on Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources by November 1, 2027.