To the Editor:

We noticed the smell first. It smelled like rot and lingered for weeks. Shortly thereafter, the water coming out of the shower was brown and had the same stench.

Sewage sludge (biosolids) was spread on the field across the street. My well and those of nine of my neighbors tested positive for E Coli and Coliform at levels 200 times safe levels. [“Editorial: One family’s hardship makes clear the need to ban use of toxin-laced sewage sludge as fertilizer,” The Altamont Enterprise, March 20, 2025].

Soon thereafter, PFAS, or forever chemicals, were found in the Bethlehem Reservoir, which serves as the drinking water for 36,000 people. I live 380 feet above the reservoir. The Environmental Protection Agency has noted that “detectable levels of PFOA or PFOS (PFAS) could result in cancerous and non-cancer effects.”

Yet somehow this is all perfectly legal.

Spreading biosolids is in violation of our State Constitution which guarantees “clean air, water and a healthful environment,” so why does New York state allow waste companies to treat our farm fields as a dumping ground — putting recycled human waste, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and forever chemicals in our soil where they contaminate our land and drinking water and end up in the food we eat?

The time has come for New York state to place a five-year moratorium on the spreading of sewage sludge (biosolids) to address the scope of the problem, confront public-health concerns, and to recognize quality-of-life issues.

It is also needed to educate farmers, provide alternatives, and help those who ruined their fields because they were told biosolids were safe. Everyone’s health and safety depends on it. 

Ryan Dunham 

Voorheesville