The Stream, January 16, 2025: EPA Warns of PFAS in Sewage Sludge Fertilizer; More Rain, More Drought Expected in Mediterranean

Reservoirs in southern Spain were depleted by heat and drought in 2024. Photo © Brett Walton/Circle of Blue

YOUR GLOBAL RUNDOWN 

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a warning that two types of PFAS in sewage sludge fertilizer — commonly used by growers and supported by the EPA — may be a human health risk.
• Climate models predict that sudden, extreme rain events — and long-term dry spells — will continue to gain strength in the rapidly warming Mediterranean region.
• A multi-million dollar, internationally backed initiative will aim to sustainably produce cacao and coffee in Cameroon’s rainforests — a practice that has historically caused deforestation.
• A lack of proper infrastructure and funding in Mississippi Delta sanitation systems is contributing to the rise of water-borne, parasitic infections.

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Stream Editor

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

Detroit Flood Recovery: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will give the city of Detroit nearly $350 million “to support recovery from severe storms and flooding” experienced in August 2023, Michigan Public reports.

Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.

• Climate change, erratic weather taking toll on Michigan cherry industry — Bridge Michigan
• Trump’s aggressive water statement riles, unites Canadians — Great Lakes Now
• Court challenge to a permit for Enbridge’s tunnel for Line 5 — Michigan Public
• New year, new power: Ford government can now overrule conservation authorities — The Narwhal

The Lead

As growers across America have been finding elevated levels of PFAS on their farmland, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned on Tuesday that “sewage sludge” — a byproduct of wastewater treatment that is commonly used as a fertilizer and has been championed by the EPA — can contain levels of “forever chemicals” that could pose a health risk to people living on or near land where the sludge is spread, the New York Times reports. When these “biosolids” are used, the chemicals have been shown to seep into soils, groundwater sources, and eventually the bodies of livestock and people. Currently, the EPA regulates only pathogens and nine heavy metals in biosolids. Tuesday’s announcement is by all accounts could be the foundation for establishing limits on PFAS in biosolids.

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

• Fertilizer from Sewage, a Utility Money Maker, Faces Uncertain Future — Wastewater industry rattled by toxic chemical contaminants in biosolids.
• OPINION: Spreading Like Wildfire — How Misinformation About Water and Fire in Los Angeles Inflames the Situation.

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

5 million

Acres of Cameroon’s forests that were lost between 2001 and 2023, according to Global Forest Watch. One of the largest drivers of deforestation, according to one 2024 study, is the production of cacao. Mongabay reports that “the possibility of achieving sustainable, deforestation-free cacao and coffee production is ambiguous” in the eyes of natural resource managers, who look hesitantly upon a $60 million international effort to support four major sustainable agroforestry projects over the next three years.

12 million

The number of Americans believed to have “neglected” parasitic infections, illnesses that “spread through contaminated water and contact with feces and tend to thrive in high poverty areas with poor sanitation systems,” the Guardian reports. This problem is especially pervasive in the Mississippi Delta, where infrastructural neglect and lack of proper funding have contributed to compounding sanitation issues in predominantly Black communities. Widespread intestinal infections — of hookworm, roundworm, and tapeworm —  have been reported in both children and adults. 

On the Radar

Climate scientists forecast that the wettest days in the Mediterranean basin — a region historically characterized by its “short, heavy rainfall” — are expected to become even more severe and frequent amidst a rapidly changing climate, the New York Times reports. As the area warms 20 percent faster than the rest of the world, more rain falls now during extreme precipitation events compared to previous decades. These deluges have triggered flash floods and landslides, events experienced in devastating order over just the past two years in countries including Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and Libya. Though this trend of rapid rain is expected to continue, annual rainfall will actually decrease: presenting a “more rain, more drought” reality to the region’s water balance.

Christian Thorsberg

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.