Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—often called “forever chemicals”—are a class of thousands of synthetic compounds used in industrial manufacturing, consumer products, firefighting foams, and everyday waste streams. They earn the “forever” name because they don’t biodegrade, build up in soil and water, and bioaccumulate in the human body. A growing body of research has linked PFAS exposure to serious health harms, including cancers, immune disruption, endocrine disorders, and developmental impacts. PFAS have been detected in the vast majority of Americans’ blood, illustrating how widespread exposure has become.
Both Maryland and Virginia’s new laws focus on sewage sludge produced at wastewater treatment plants, where PFAS from industrial discharges become concentrated. When that sludge is applied to farmland, PFAS can migrate into groundwater, surface waters, crops, and livestock—creating long-term contamination risks.
The new legislation introduces several key policy tools:
These are meaningful structural changes. For the first time, states are requiring measurement, transparency, and some level of accountability in how PFAS-contaminated waste is managed.
“Across Maryland, PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are already contaminating our soil, water, and food supply… and we cannot afford to wait,” said Senator Sara Love, one of the bill’s sponsors. “This legislation… is an essential first step—but more will be needed.”
The central policy challenge is not whether to regulate PFAS—but how protective those regulations are.
Both states adopted numeric thresholds that allow PFAS-contaminated sludge to continue being applied to farmland:
Scientific evidence suggests that harmful impacts can occur at much lower concentrations—sometimes as low as 1–5 ppb.
This gap between science and policy has real consequences. Thresholds that are too high risk allowing contamination to persist and spread, rather than preventing it.
As regional partners have emphasized, “you cannot manage what you don’t measure”—but measurement alone is not sufficient if the standards themselves are not protective.
The laws also differ in important ways:
These design choices matter. Policy details determine whether laws meaningfully shift outcomes—or simply formalize existing risks.
Chesapeake Legal Alliance is focused on ensuring that these new laws are implemented—and strengthened—in line with the best available science.
“We are confident Maryland’s legislation will at least start to put much greater focus on stopping PFAS at the source,” said Evan Isaacson, Senior Staff Attorney at Chesapeake Legal Alliance, “before industrial sources can send PFAS into public sewers where it will contaminate our rivers, farms, and drinking water.”
That “source control” approach is critical. Once PFAS enter wastewater systems, they are extremely difficult and costly to remove. Effective policy must prioritize preventing contamination upstream, rather than managing it after the fact.
At the same time, ensuring that regulatory thresholds reflect current science is essential.
“The science is clear that harmful exposure can occur well below the thresholds set here,” said Jacqueline Goodrum, Of Counsel and Associate Director of Virginia Policy at Chesapeake Legal Alliance. “We will continue to work…to ensure that the standards are based on the best available evidence.”
This is where legal advocacy plays a central role—holding agencies accountable to statutory mandates, ensuring decisions are grounded in science, and pushing for regulatory frameworks that actually protect public health and the environment.
The passage of these laws is not the endpoint—it is the beginning of a new phase of PFAS policy in the Chesapeake region.
Key questions remain:
At the same time, the absence of comprehensive federal regulation continues to shape the landscape, leaving states to fill critical gaps—often unevenly.
Without stronger safeguards, PFAS will continue cycling through wastewater systems, farmland, and waterways. Monitoring data already shows widespread contamination across the Chesapeake region and beyond.
The next phase of this work will determine whether these policies meaningfully reduce that contamination—or allow it to continue.
Support the work. Donations help fund the legal and advocacy work needed to push for enforceable PFAS protections across the watershed.
Stay engaged.
Regulatory agencies will now determine how these laws operate in practice—and public input remains critical.
Advocate for upstream solutions.
The most effective PFAS policy is prevention: stopping contamination at its source before it reaches wastewater systems and farmland.
Questions or want to get involved? Email evan@chesapeakelegal.org
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PFAS policy in the Chesapeake region is evolving quickly. The question now is whether that evolution will keep pace with the science—and with the scale of the problem.
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Chesapeake Legal Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free legal services to protect and restore clean water and promote healthy, resilient ecosystems across the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Waterkeepers Chesapeake is a nonprofit coalition of local Waterkeepers working to protect clean water and healthy communities across the Chesapeake and coastal regions by supporting on-the-ground advocacy to stop pollution.
Potomac Riverkeeper Network is a nonprofit organization with three regional Waterkeeper programs—Potomac, Upper Potomac, and Shenandoah—focused on protecting the right to clean water by stopping pollution, safeguarding drinking water, and restoring river ecosystems.
ShoreRivers protects Maryland’s Eastern Shore waterways through science-based advocacy, restoration, education, and community engagement, working toward a future where local rivers are thriving and valued by all.
