The City of Salem does not produce PFAS chemicals, nor does any industry within the City. However, these chemicals remain an area of concern because they are present in many of the commercial products we buy and use, before throwing away, and returning to our wastewater utility in the form of leachate.

Leachate is a substance created at landfills as rainwater and biological processes break down the chemicals contained within the items we throw away in landfills. Leachate is then trucked to our wastewater utility to be further treated as wastewater or biosolids.

Biosolids are the nutrient-rich organic byproduct of domestic wastewater treatment. The City of Salem produces approximately 2,500 dry tons of biosolids in an average year. We provide these biosolids as an affordable, climate-friendly fertilizer to about a dozen local farms within a 45-mile radius of the Willow Lake Wastewater Treatment Facility. Biosolids promote the growth of agricultural crops and reduce the use of commercial nitrogen, improves soil quality, and stores moisture.

There are many benefits for biosolids and their application to specific agricultural crops including reducing greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen, improving soil quality reducing irrigation needs, and providing natural drought resistance to soils.