DC Water, the utility that operates Blue Plains, sells it under the brand name, Bloom. Farmers in Maryland, DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania can buy it by the ton, while homeowners can purchase 25-pound bags at some home and garden stores.
“When I saw … these astronomically high levels of PFAS in this product, I was stunned,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, the group that tested Bloom.
PEER said a private lab analyzed the biosolids and found 21 parts per billion of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 26 parts per billion of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). PFOA and PFOS are the two most frequently detected PFAS compounds.