Key Contacts
Practice Areas
New York State PFAS Update
In 2026, New York is poised to expand its regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with new product bans, added oversight of publicly owned treatment works (PTOWs), broadened requirements for biosolids investigation, continued development of soils cleanup standards, and establish new guidance for providing alternate water for private water supplies.
As reported in last year’s forecast, New York’s Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) restricts the sale of apparel with intentionally added PFAS 2025, with outdoor apparel bans coming into effect in 2028. In 2026, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) plans on proposing implementing regulations for this ban, which will be subject to public notice and comment.
New York will continue its efforts to prohibit PFAS in consumer goods in 2026. In December 2025, New York passed a law prohibiting the distribution, sale, and offered sale of menstrual products containing PFAS and other toxins, set to go into effect in December 2026. This year also includes key deadlines under New York’s “Extended Producers Responsibility for Carpet Law,” which prohibits the sale or offered sale of all carpets containing or treated with PFAS effective December 31, 2026.
In 2026, NYSDEC will begin implementing the Technical and Operational Guidance Series) 1.3.14: “Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWs) Permitting Strategy for Implementing Guidance Values for PFOA, PFOS, and 1,4-Dioxane.” The guidance outlines NYDEC’s initial implementation strategy for applying guidance values (GVs) for certain PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane in State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permits for POTWs. Initial efforts will focus on POTWs located within drinking water supply watersheds or that recycle biosolids. NYSDEC also intends to request PFAS information whenever SPDES permits are being reviewed for another permitting action. In response to these investigations, NYSDEC may modify permits to add monitoring, action levels, pollutant minimization programs, or compliance schedules. The guidance also highlights that POTWs are required to disclose information related to their industrial users in permit applications and now, as part of regularly required pollutants scans, conduct effluent sampling for the 40 PFAS compound suite and 1,4-Dioxane. POTWs are also required to provide adequate notice to the NYSDEC if there is a substantial change in the volume or character of pollutants introduced by industrial users. Given the low GV levels for PFAS, the introduction of any detectable amount of these contaminants may constitute a substantial change.
In December 2025, NYSDEC’s Division of Materials Management proposed new draft policy that would expand the requirements of the existing guidance “Biosolids Recycling in New York State – Interim Strategy for the Control of PFAS Compounds (DMM-7)”. Under DMM-7, certain permitted facilities that accept biosolids must sample biosolid sources for PFAS and report the result to NYSDEC. The proposed policy would extend current sampling and reporting requirements to “soil products” produced from biosolids, such as compost and heat dried products. NYSDEC has stated that the expanded data collection will inform the development of biosolid analytical and operating limits. Public comments on the draft policy were due by January 9, 2026.
NYSDEC continues to develop rural background PFAS concentrations in soil to support future soil cleanup objectives. In March 2025, NYSDEC released a statewide rural soil study reporting detections of PFOS in more than 97% of surface soil samples and PFOA in approximately 76.5%, underscoring the challenges associated with establishing background-based cleanup criteria.
Finally, NYSDEC proposed revisions to DER-24: “Draft Policy Revisions Detailing State Assistance for Contaminated Water Supplies”. The draft policy clarifies when NYSDEC will provide alternate water supplies for private wells affected by DER program sites or spills, and outlines procedures for defining areas of interest, interpreting sampling results, and selecting, implementing, or discontinuing alternate water supplies, with public comments due by February 10, 2026.
