Biosolids Regulatory Horizon: Federal and State Updates
by Nathan E. Vassar
Biosolids regulations have become a focal point across the wastewater industry in recent years, both on the state level with a 2025 legislative push for a potential ban of land application of biosolids, as well as at a national level, where EPA has conducted various risk assessments and guidance updates, evaluating the issue of biosolids, human health, and the ubiquity of PFAS within biosolids. This article highlights the status of both federal and state biosolids regulatory frameworks as of late fall 2026, including as we approach the 90th Legislative Session in Texas in January 2027.
By way of background, and stating the obvious for many-a-wastewater professional, biosolids are commonly hauled and used for land application as fertilizer, and sometimes sold to third party entities that package and market such materials to the agricultural industry as a useful product for soil improvement for crops. This option, as opposed to landfilling or incinerating, is a cost- effective and mutually beneficial solution for one of the byproducts of wastewater treatment in Texas, and indeed, across the United States. Recent attention on biosolids land application is driven by certain particular spotlighted cases, including in Johnson County, Texas, where alleged land application of biosolids held a connection to certain cattle deaths, even as such alleged correlation has largely been debunked. Nonetheless, other states have banned land application of biosolids, including Maine, and state/national industry groups are carefully watching the development of potential regulatory updates from EPA and at the state level.
That brings us to the status of federal regulatory action on biosolids and PFAS, where earlier this year, EPA released draft guidance for comment on “Reducing Risk from PFAS in Biosolids.” That publication received numerous comments, including from locally regulated entities as well as state and national interest groups that represent wastewater utilities. It deemed the earlier Biosolids draft risk assessment as “flawed” and lacking context, and noted some of the practical realities of land application of biosolids. Notably, EPA stated, in relevant part, that “[w]hile the EPA estimates that biosolids are applied to less than 1% of America’s farmland annually, the agency recognizes that nearly 60% of sewage sludge is land applied as biosolids.” As a result, one key takeaway is that EPA acknowledges the regular and ongoing practice of utilities’ use of land application as the primary disposal method for biosolids.
Comments on the federal draft guidance ranged from push back against any ban to an acknowledgment of the source of such PFAS-contained biosolids (which is to say, biosolids). Utilities are passive receivers of the forever chemicals, as manufacturers produce them, they are incorporated into products across the country, and ultimately—through the water cycle—end up at wastewater treatment plants. There is no set date on when the guidance will be updated and eventually finalized.
On the state front, Texas is just weeks away from the 90th Legislative Session where the topic will be a lively one again, most anticipate. The residue of the 89th Legislative Session on the issue remains in the minds of many legislative offices, many of whom have heard from constituents outside of the water and wastewater industry, who do not have an understanding of the widespread nature of PFAS chemicals, the limitations of wastewater treatment at the present time, as well as the still-developing science on impacts from biosolids application to public health and safety. To that end, many are working toward a path for education and advocacy in the 90th session, and in the months and weeks in advance of same.
Nathan Vassar is a Principal in the Firm’s Water, Compliance and Enforcement, Litigation, and Appellate Practice Groups. If you have any questions or would like additional information related to this article or other matters, please contact Nathan at 512.322.5867 or nvassar@lglawfirm.com.