Learn More About PFAS

PFAS are not byproducts of wastewater treatment but are present in the wastewater that leaves homes and businesses. PFAS enters wastewater when people wash, rinse or clean products containing the chemicals. The water then enters the sewer system.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites research that suggests high levels of certain PFAS may have negative health impacts. Learn more about the health impacts of PFAS on CDC’s website.

Treatment technologies to remove PFAS from wastewater effluent exist, but they do not destroy PFAS molecules. The treatment moves the PFAS molecules into a different waste stream that still needs to be disposed of or treated further.  

While Metro is asking the public to help reduce PFAS at the source before it enters the sanitary sewer, the responsibility to remove these substances from the water cycle should be placed on the producers and manufacturers that incorporate PFAS into their products.

Do your part to protect our rivers and lakes by making informed choices about products you use at home and in the workplace.

Here is how to find products free of PFAS

Publicly owned clean water utilities like Metro Water Recovery are passive receivers of PFAS chemicals. Metro does not produce, use, or manufacture PFAS but receives these chemicals through the wastewater that arrives at our treatment plants from homes and businesses.

Metro is educating the public and helping businesses and consumers make informed decisions, encouraging state leaders to act on PFAS legislation, and monitoring wastewater to help identify short and long-term solutions.  

We will continue to work with industry partners to contribute to the scientific research of PFAS in wastewater and biosolids.

Biosolids are a form of fertilizer that have been produced through the traditional wastewater treatment process for decades. Metro will continue to work with research partners, CDPHE, EPA, and its METROGRO Farmers to ensure the continued safe application of biosolids.