Biosolids ban bill watered down as negotiations over testing, notification continue

By: Shannon Heckt

Outlets: Virginia Mercury

Published: February 12, 2026

Words: 801

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 6 days ago

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A proposal to make sweeping changes to the use of potentially toxic fertilizer on Virginia farmland has been amended to ease strain on the municipal wastewater and agriculture industries some groups said it would have posed.

Senate Bill 386 aimed to ban the use of biosolids, a cheap fertilizer derived from treated wastewater sludge that contain PFAS, the pervasive “forever chemicals” that research shows have adverse effects on human health.

The bill’s sponsor Sen. …

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