https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/mar/12/sewage-us-crop-farming-lawsuit-pfas

Sewage sludge is human and industrial waste that is a byproduct of the wastewater treatment process. Its disposal is expensive, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows it to be spread on cropland as “biosolid” fertilizer because it is also rich in plant nutrients.

But public health advocates blasted the practice because the nation spends billions of dollars annually treating water only to take the toxic byproduct, insert it into the food supply and re-pollute water.

Until political leadership in the EPA approved sludge for agricultural use over the objection of agency scientists in the early 1990s, it was dumped in the ocean, but that created vast dead zones.

About 60% of the nation’s sludge is applied to farmland, and most water treatment facilities and businesses that dump toxic waste into the sewer system oppose a ban because it would increase their costs.

New legal action could put an end to the practice of spreading toxic sewage sludge on US cropland as a cheap alternative to fertilizer

The action comes as sludge contaminated farmland across the country, sickening farmers, killing livestock, polluting drinking water, contaminating meat sold to the public, tainting crops, and destroying farmers’ livelihoods.