UMaine Kicks Off Research Project on PFAS in Residuals, NEBRA is a Stakeholder

With funding from the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Maine (UMaine)’s Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions has initiated a research study titled “Integrated Assessment of Alternative Management Strategies for PFAS-Contaminated Wastewater Residuals” and will host a kick-off stakeholders meeting on May 10th. The North East Biosolids & Residuals Association (NEBRA) has signed on as a stakeholder and will contribute in-kind funds the project. Other stakeholders include representatives from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, UMaine Cooperative Extension (agriculture and farming), Defend Our Health (formerly the Environmental Health Strategy Center, an environmental health advocacy organization), and NEBRA.

With all the focus on PFAS contamination at farms in Maine, especially dairy farms, this project will take a wholistic look at residuals management and how best to deal with PFAS contamination. Through the stakeholder process, UMaine hopes to identify key policy issues related to managing PFAS-contaminated wastewater residuals. The current focus by water resource recovery facilities on PFAS source reduction will reduce the risk of PFAS-contaminated biosolids considerably but we will continue to find these legacy sites. EPA has recommended landfilling and thermal treatment for solid materials high in PFAS. This study will look at the range of options for managing these materials and the environmental, social, and economic consequences of each.

For more details on the project, see UMaine’s final pre-proposal.

W-4170 Researchers Want Help with Meta Analysis for Carbon Sequestration from Biosolids

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University researchers have embarked on a project to collect carbon sequestration data for biosolids. Specifically, they are looking to provide quantitative values to land-applied biosolids and potential carbon sequestration rates. As part of the project, Virginia Tech has initiated a comprehensive literature review and is looking for volunteer reviewers to assist them. The research project team needs people to help them review the materials and methods sections of selected articles to see if they meet the predefined inclusion criteria. The Virginia Tech team has already culled through about 14,000 papers and is down to 1,000.

Virginia Tech has a level-of-effort threshold that reviewers would have to meet for authorship credits but if you do not care about authorship and just want an acknowledgement, they will gladly accept lower time commitments. NEBRA’s Research Committee would like to coordinate participation so please send an email to janine@nebiosolids.org if you are interested in becoming a reviewer or simply learning more about this opportunity! If there’s enough interest, NEBRA can arrange for a virtual meeting with the Virginia Tech researchers to walk potential reviewers through the process.