States want Milorganite to be tested
‘Forever chemicals’ spur contamination concerns
Milwaukee’s Milorganite fertilizer is attracting scrutiny as concerns mount over a group of chemical contaminants that pose potential health threats to humans.
At least two states — Maine and Massachusetts — have raised questions with the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District centering on potential contamination from “forever” chemicals in its popular fertilizer.
Also, Wisconsin officials said recently they wanted to know more about the potential of contamination from the chemicals at MMSD, which is the state’s largest wastewater treatment plant, and other select plants.
Perfluorinated chemicals, also known as PFAS, are under growing national scrutiny because they have been widely used in industry for decades and endure in the environment for long periods.
Epidemiology studies that were cited in a federal report in 2018 suggest the PFAS compounds can lead to increased pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma, decreased fertility, some cancers and a drop in immune responses.
Milwaukee has been selling Milorganite as a commercial fertilizer since 1926 in the United States and Canada for residential lawn care, golf courses and other professional grounds.
In the case of Massachusetts, MMSD continues to sell Milorganite in the state, but district officials said there are unresolved legal issues with regulators over acceptable protocols to test for the chemicals in the future.
In Maine, sales were stopped this spring and early summer until MMSD showed the state’s Department of Environmental Protection that three compounds — part of a larger group of PFAS chemicals — were sufficiently low to meet new standards.
Maine’s efforts began in March when it began requiring those in the sludge business, including MMSD, to begin testing and reporting results.
One factor for its actions was the discovery in 2016 of a contaminated well on a dairy farm in southern Maine where sludge had been spread.
Darsi Foss, administrator of the division of environmental management for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said no such incident is known to have occurred in Wisconsin.
But on July 3, the DNR ordered Johnson Controls International to test soil
and private wells in areas covering more than 3,500 acres of agricultural land in the Marinette area for the presence of perfluorinated chemicals.
Sludge from Marinette’s wastewater system has been known to contain PFAS from Tyco Fire Products, a unit of the company, and has been spread between 1996 and 2017.
In Maine, in a first round of testing, MMSD was able to show chemicals met the state’s new standards for sludge.
But a second round showed higher levels that appeared to violate Maine’s standards. It was only after MMSD presented information about proper spreading rates for the fertilizer did officials agree Milwaukee could resume sales, emails show.
Kevin Shafer, MMSD’s executive director, said the district has no objections to the inquiries. The issue for now is a lack of uniform sampling methods and standards from state to state.
“As we learn more, from the data and public health risk, we will take all of the steps necessary to ensure public health and safety,” Shafer said.
The actions in Maine and Massachusetts are likely the tip of the iceberg for MMSD as other states have begun setting standards for the chemicals, or they are taking other actions, because they see the pace of action by the Trump administration as too slow.
Under the administration of Gov. Tony Evers, officials are in the early stages of setting strict groundwater standards for a group of the chemicals. But the regulations face a long regulatory review and business groups have raised objections in the early going.
One focus of other states is sludge, which MMSD turns into Milorganite with additional treatment.
The district is projecting it will generate $10 million from the fertilizer this year — the second-largest source of revenue after sewer charges, according to budget documents.
Treatment plants, like Jones Island and South Shore, were designed to kill bacteria in sludge but not to strip out the thousands of chemical compounds in the PFAS family.
On July 22, the DNR asked operators of 125 wastewater treatment plants, including MMSD, to test for more than 30 PFAS compounds in their sludge.
The agency asked the wastewater utilities, including MMSD, Madison and Green Bay, to sample wastewater before and after treatment. The aim is to help regulators better understand the source of PFAS contaminants and how it might contaminate drinking water in municipal systems and private wells.
In metro Milwaukee, the request also went to the City of Brookfield, Fredonia, Grafton, Hartford, Jackson, Saukville, South Milwaukee, the City of Waukesha and West Bend, since the DNR said these communities are more likely to receive wastewater from businesses that “knowingly or unknowingly use PFAS.”
The DNR is not making the tests mandatory for now.
But the DNR’s Foss said testing for the chemicals in sludge could be required when treatment plants renew their permits with the state. The permits come due every five years.