Coalition Urges DEC to Adopt New Regulations for Onsite Treatment and Disposal of Leachate at Landfills
Broad Coalition of New York Organizations Calls on the State to End Outdated Practices That Threaten Rivers and Drinking Water.
A broad coalition of New York State organizations submitted a letter today urging the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to adopt new regulations for onsite treatment and disposal of landfill leachate. The letter calls for the DEC to open the rulemaking process immediately, with a 90-day public comment period, stressing the urgent need for new regulations to protect public health and the environment from untreated leachate being sent to municipal wastewater treatment plants. Municipal systems are not required to test for or remove the toxic chemicals in leachate, such as heavy metals, “forever chemicals” (PFAS), and other contaminants, allowing them to be untreated and discharged into rivers that serve as drinking water sources.
This push for new regulations follows the December, 2024 release of the major report The Threat of Landfill Leachate to Drinking Water in the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, which highlights the “Leachate Loophole”—a regulatory gap allowing raw leachate to be sent to municipal treatment plants. These facilities discharge the toxic contaminants into the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers, which provide drinking water for 368,000 people.
“After two years of promises, the DEC has failed to act on the critical need for new leachate regulations,” said Rebecca Martin, Project Manager of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers Leachate Collaborative. “The evidence is clear: municipal treatment plants cannot handle the toxic chemicals in leachate. DEC must open the rulemaking process now and provide a 90-day public comment period to allow all New Yorkers, especially those in impacted communities, to weigh in.”
The letter highlights the need for an immediate action to protect drinking water supplies, ensure accountability, and modernize outdated waste management practices. It also calls for a new waste management regime that prioritizes public health and the environment, while shifting the cost burdens from municipalities back to the polluters.
Organizations signing onto the letter include: Seneca Lake Guardian, Beyond Plastics, Riverkeeper, Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Scenic Hudson, Earthjustice, Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter, NRDC, Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, Catskill Mountainkeeper, and others.
Notably, the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies is among the signatories and is credited with editing a recent research article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which found that “forever chemicals” in municipal wastewater threaten drinking water supplies for millions of Americans.
For more information, visit: https://leachateloophole.org/