North Carolina’s Statewide PFAS Discharge and Biosolids Studies

Summary — North Carolina’s new Water Safety Act launches a statewide effort to identify the sources of PFAS (“forever chemicals”) discharges into surface waters from direct dischargers, indirect dischargers and biosolids land application sites. While the studies are primarily focused on gathering data rather than immediate enforcement, the findings are expected to shape future PFAS regulations, making it important for affected facilities to prepare for potential new requirements.

Section 8.27 of North Carolina’s budget (Senate Bill 257) contains the state’s new Water Safety Act (the “Act”). It authorizes a two-phase sampling effort intended to identify the sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) discharges into North Carolina’s surface waters and a study regarding the presence and source of PFAS in biosolids as well as the effects of land applying them. The North Carolina Collaboratory at UNC-Chapel Hill (the “Collaboratory”) will use the results to produce comprehensive recommendations for reducing the PFAS load in surface waters originating from direct dischargers, indirect dischargers and biosolids land application sites.

PFAS Discharge Studies

Phase 1 of the discharge study will focus on publicly owned treatment works (POTW) with at least one Significant Industrial User (SIU) and direct dischargers of process wastewater. Either the POTWs themselves, or the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) will take samples from each affected POTW’s influent, effluent and its wastewater treatment sludge. NCDEQ will obtain the samples from other permitted direct dischargers. The Collaboratory and its partners will then analyze these samples using targeted PFAS, total oxidizable precursor (TOP) and adsorbable organic fluorine (AOF) analyses. Sampling for this phase must be complete by December 31, 2027, with a report due to the General Assembly by March 31, 2028.

Phase 2 of the discharge study will focus on indirect discharges from all SIUs in the state. NCDEQ will collect influent and effluent samples from each SIU, and the Collaboratory will analyze these samples using targeted PFAS, TOP and AOF analyses. Sampling for this phase must be complete by December 31, 2028, with a report due to the General Assembly by March 31, 2029. 

While the Collaboratory is authorized to use the results of both phases to make regulatory recommendations for future load-reduction programs, there are also some important differences in how the results of these studies can be used. For the Phase 2 study of SIUs, the Act authorizes NCDEQ to retain “secondary samples” and use them for “regulatory actions,” but only to the extent authorized by the state’s approved Clean Water Act program. The language authorizing the Phase 1 study of POTWs and direct dischargers, however, does not authorize NCDEQ to retain secondary samples and does not provide for the use of Phase 1 data by NCDEQ.

In addition, the Act explicitly requires the Collaboratory to anonymize or aggregate the data (by county or river basin) contained in the Phase 1 report. The facility-specific data for Phase 1 are considered research data that are specifically excluded from disclosure as a public record. Phase 2 data are subject to disclosure as public records after the Collaboratory publishes the Phase 2 report. However, the Collaboratory may treat those results as exempted “research data” as well – if it so chooses.

Biosolids Study

The Act also authorizes the Collaboratory to study: 

• The extent to which PFAS accumulates in POTW biosolids; 
• The subsequent environmental effects of land-applying those biosolids;
• The extent to which such biosolids contribute to the overall PFAS load in surface waters; 
• Alternatives to land application; and 
• The potential for new best management practices or treatment technologies to minimize or remove PFAS in biosolids.

Importantly, the Collaboratory can use the information developed in this study – and the discharge studies – to identify the sources of PFAS present in a POTW’s biosolids and to develop strategies for reducing or mitigating its presence. A report of the study’s findings is due to the General Assembly by January 31, 2029.

Comment

The Act affords significant flexibility to the Collaboratory to design the discharge and biosolids studies, and it does not require the use of EPA-approved laboratory methods while completing them. Combined with (1) the treatment of Phase 1 discharge study data as confidential, and (2) the potential for the Collaboratory to treat Phase 2 discharge study data as confidential, the short-term risk of enforcement actions against regulated dischargers by NCDEQ appears somewhat limited. 

Nonetheless, it seems likely that – by March 31, 2029 – SIUs, direct dischargers of process wastewater and POTWs will be on notice about the PFAS content of their effluent and the extent to which their processes are contributing to the presence of PFAS in surface waters and biosolids in North Carolina. Given that North Carolina Governor Josh Stein signed Senate Bill 257 into law on July 7, 2026, the regulated community should consider getting ahead of this study and avoiding the potential to be caught flat-footed when the Collaboratory’s data starts coming in. These entities should also consider the implications of the Collaboratory’s results for their operations in other states and around the world. 

Over the longer term, it is unclear what type of regulatory program might emerge from these studies. Given that the focus is primarily on the PFAS contribution from point source discharges (along with land application sites), the studies appear to lend themselves to creating facility-specific PFAS minimization / reduction plans rather than water quality-based effluent limits. After all, without an understanding of the non-point source PFAS load in a particular surface water, it seems unlikely that a water quality-based effluent limit could reliably keep ambient PFAS concentrations in a surface water below any relevant, numeric threshold.