New Zealand Water Review Shines a Light on PFAS Contamination – And What It Means for Biosolids

The latest edition of the New Zealand Water Review (2025, Edition 3) presents significant findings on PFAS contamination across Aotearoa—research that carries major implications for biosolids management, waste processing, and land application nationwide.

Key Findings from the Publication

The Water Review highlights the results of a large-scale EPA study conducted in 2022, which found very low levels of PFAS contamination in groundwater wells across New Zealand. Supporting research from Auckland produced similar outcomes, with readings remaining low—even when benchmarked against the strictest PFAS regulatory requirements in the United States.

While the data is encouraging, the publication stresses the importance of continued, long-term monitoring to understand emerging risks over time.

PFAS Pathways: How These Chemicals Enter the Environment

New Zealand may not have a history of PFAS manufacturing, but the country is not immune to contamination.

The Water Review identifies several pathways contributing to PFAS presence:

1. Industrial processes such as metal plating

2. Imported consumer products containing PFAS compounds

3. Historic use of aqueous firefighting foams

4. Everyday household and commercial wastewater contributions

Research by Lenka et al. (2022) shows PFAS detections in urban waterways and wastewater treatment plants across New Zealand, proving these chemicals are already moving through the waste system.

What This Means for Biosolids and Land Application

As PFAS enters wastewater networks, it concentrates during the treatment process and ultimately accumulates in biosolids—the treated sludge often applied to farmland as nutrient-rich fertiliser.

Land application of biosolids has long been positioned as a circular, sustainable waste management practice. Yet the persistence of PFAS raises critical concerns:

1. PFAS chemicals do not break down

2. Each biosolids application builds a cumulative environmental load

3. Soil and groundwater may eventually reflect that accumulation

Compounding the issue, New Zealand currently lacks national regulation on the import or manufacture of PFAS-containing consumer products, increasing the risk of these chemicals flowing into waste streams unnoticed.

A Call for Continued Vigilance and Advanced Treatment

The New Zealand Water Review concludes that although PFAS levels here are lower than in many countries, the challenge is the same:

1. Understanding PFAS behaviour

2. Managing contaminated waste streams

3. Developing robust regulatory frameworks

4. Investing in treatment technologies that eliminate PFAS before land application

For the biosolids and waste sector, this highlights a clear priority: solutions that prevent PFAS from reaching soil systems in the first place.

Final Thoughts

The Water Review’s coverage underscores the need for sustained collaboration across regulatory, industrial, and environmental sectors. PFAS contamination is not simply a waste issue—it is a whole-of-system challenge.

We acknowledge New Zealand Water Review and Executive Media Global for elevating this topic for the water and waste industries. The full article, “Reduce and remove: the two-pronged approach to the PFAS problem,” is available in the 2025 Edition 3 publication.

For further detail, access the full New Zealand Water Review publication through 🔗the link to read it.