ALBANY COUNTY —  Albany County has extended its 90-day moratorium on biosolids, set to expire later this month, for an additional 180 days, pushing the expiration date to Oct. 24, 2025. 

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy said on April 16 in announcing the extension that it would “help safeguard public health and the environment as we continue to chart the best path forward.”

The moratorium on the toxic substance, commonly used as fertilizer, was established in January, after the application of biosolids on a cattle farm in New Scotland raised questions about water quality in Bethlehem, because of the farm’s proximity to the Vly Creek Reservoir. The reservoir is in New Scotland but supplies Bethlehem’s drinking water, and roughly 760 New Scotland residents get water from the reservoir as well.

As the name suggests, biosolids are the solid leftovers of the wastewater treatment process that can be “recycled” through their use as fertilizer. However, they are also known to contain many substances harmful to human health, like lead, mercury, pathogens, and PFAS. 

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of chemical known as “forever chemicals” because some specific chemicals have long half-lives, meaning they take very long — up to 1,000 years — to fully break down. Once thought to be relatively safe, they are now associated with a wide range of adverse health impacts on people, such as different cancers, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis, and more.

Bethlehem residents are concerned after testing of private wells in the vicinity of the Vly Creek Reservoir showed elevated levels of coliform and E. coli, both pathogens that are transmitted primarily through feces. 

In March, The Enterprise spoke with one New Scotland resident who lives near the Vly Creek Reservoir and uses a well and said that the water coming from his shower smelled like excrement. He surmised it was biosolid contamination that originated from a farm across the street that had switched from manure-based fertilizer. 

An Oct. 17, 2024 letter from the Albany County Health Department to Region 4 of the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said, “Based upon the sampling results there appears to be impacts to multiple individual wells from the current and historical land spreading activities.”

Bethlehem has not had issues with dangerous substances in its water so far.

The town’s latest water-quality test results, released last month, showed that water from the reservoir and two New Scotland wellsites were well within state standards for PFAS, including those that have yet to take effect. 

But, while there’s been no indication of anything that is dangerous to people, the town had been dealing with complaints of odor in the municipal water supply that the town says is the result of rare algal blooms in the Vly Creek Reservoir, brought about by a drought and warm temperatures last fall. 

Comprehensive testing of multiple samples revealed that the blooms, though smelly, were not of a kind that poses a risk to human health. 

A weekly update from the town published on April 11 shows that it has not received complaints from residents about this smell since mid-February, and emphasizes that the water is safe to drink. 

Addressing biosolids

Albany County’s temporary ban on biosolids as it works to develop more permanent regulations is akin to a government grassroots campaign since the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation promotes the use of biosolids as part of Governor Kathy Hochul’s goal of recycling 85 percent of all waste in the state. 

In the midst of the moratorium, Bethlehem has paused activity on its own law to regulate the use of the biosolids in town, drafted by Councilman Thomas Schnurr.

While Bethlehem officials acknowledge that full protection for the town requires cooperation from other governments, a local law would at least protect the town’s Selkirk wellfield along with private wells.

“The best offense is prevention,” Schnurr said at a March town board meeting. 

In addition to Albany County’s moratorium, a bill has been introduced in the state legislature that would place a state-wide moratorium on biosolids and create both a PFAS agricultural response program to assist farms with PFAS contamination, as well as a biosolids task force that would look into the risks and benefits of biosolids disposal. 

It is currently in committee.