MAINE, USA — An outright ban on spreading biosolids or sludge as fertilizer on farmland in Maine is one step closer to becoming law.

Toxic chemicals known as PFAS, found in household and industrial waste, are in the sludge produced by wastewater treatment plants. For decades the chemicals leached into topsoil and groundwater. 

Under a proposed bill, LD 1911, the sludge would have to be put in landfills, which some critics say will create another toxic problem of its own. 

It's a major step forward in containing contamination from PFAS chemicals. The toxic compounds have tainted hundreds of private drinking wells and farms in Fairfield and other parts of central Maine.   

"We are poised to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to clean up the wells of rural homeowners and support affected farmers," State Senator Stacy Brenner, D-Cumberland, explained.