KEY POINTS

A new law in Illinois requires more stringent monitoring of PFAS in wastewater discharge.

Legislators are also considering a rule that would make chemical manufacturers liable for PFAS cleanup costs in wastewater treatment plants.

The decision comes just days after the federal EPA proposed walking back limits for certain PFAS compounds in drinking water.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois lawmakers last week passed a new law establishing more robust requirements for monitoring per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — better known as PFAS “forever chemicals” — in wastewater discharges at major facilities across the state. 

The deciding 64-34 House vote came just days after the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed rescinding limits for select toxic PFAS compounds in drinking water — a decision that environmental advocates, and the Illinois EPA, immediately rebuffed. 

“Regardless of the federal government’s actions, our commitment to address PFAS pollution and protect our drinking water resources remains,” Illinois EPA director James Jennings said in a statement.

The improper disposal of PFAS-contaminated waste is a frequent cause of seepage into aquifers and surface waters, which can lead to adverse impacts on human health. Studies have shown that exposure to PFAS is linked to increased cholesterol levels, higher blood pressure, developmental delays in children, and greater risks of kidney, liver, and testicular cancers.

Local scrutiny intensified after statewide testing last year found PFAS concentrations exceeding state groundwater standards in 47 community water systems serving nearly 440,000 people. Public health notices were later sent to an additional 10 communities — serving roughly 78,000 people — that rely on those systems for emergency water supplies. Groundwater contaminant notices have been issued for four more Illinois communities so far in 2026.

The new state law targets some of the largest sources of PFAS: treatment plants and industrial facilities with permits to discharge pollutants issued under the federal Clean Water Act. The law will require ongoing sampling at these facilities for PFAS in wastewater, biosolids, and sewage sludge. These latter two materials are routinely used as fertilizer across the state, despite their potential to contaminate millions of acres of farmland with “forever chemicals.”

“Our communities, farms, and water supplies deserve transparency and accountability,” said Laura Fine, a Democratic state senator and the bill’s primary sponsor, in a statement last month. “This bill puts Illinois at the forefront of monitoring forever chemicals so we can prevent contamination before it becomes a crisis.”

According to the bill, any large facility with the potential to discharge PFAS would also need to submit detailed sampling data before receiving new or renewed permits — though language in the law does offer leniency for deadlines to be extended, at the state’s discretion. 

The legislation creates a more comprehensive statewide PFAS tracking system, which critics say has suffered in the past from inconsistent data collection. 

“PFAS contamination is not just a future problem — it’s affecting communities today,” Fine said. “This measure ensures we have the tools to track these chemicals and take meaningful action to protect public health and the environment.”

Farm fields in Illinois glow in the early morning light. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue

Meanwhile, state lawmakers are running out of time to pass what would be the state’s most decisive action yet to hold polluters accountable for PFAS remediation.

Introduced last February, House Bill 2955 seeks to make chemical manufacturers — not wastewater agencies nor their customers — liable for responsibilities and costs related to the monitoring, mitigation, and elimination of PFAS from municipal water treatment plants. 

Steered by a newly created PFAS Wastewater Citizen Protection Committee, the bill seeks to resolve the contested question of who should pay to clean PFAS from water systems where limits have already been exceeded, by placing liability with chemical-producing companies. 

“If wastewater agencies are required to treat wastewater for PFAS in the future, that treatment will come at a significant operational and capital cost that taxpayers and customers must recoup,” the bill reads. “Manufacturers of PFAS should be held responsible for all liability and costs…”

Chemical cleanup is an expensive proposal. The cost of removing and destroying one pound of PFAS from a municipal wastewater site, depending on its size, can range from $2.7 million to $18 million. Under Illinois drinking water regulations adopted in January, community water systems must comply with state PFAS limits beginning in 2029. The bill would ease the financial burden of meeting that deadline.

H.B. 2955 passed out of the House last year on a 75 to 40 vote, but has stagnated in the Senate for 13 months. Just days remain before the General Assembly’s targeted May 31 adjournment, after which any legislative vote would require a three-fifths supermajority to pass. 

“The Illinois General Assembly should establish producer responsibility policies that make manufacturers responsible for dealing with the waste that their products become,” reads a report published last week by the Environment Illinois Research and Education Center. 

In that report, the center found that 100 percent of 31 monitored rivers, lakes, and streams across Illinois contained microplastics — a separate class of pollutant from PFAS, but one that is similarly pervasive and harmful to the environment and human health. 

Header image: Illinois farmland, pictured in 2010. © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.