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JOHNSON COUNTY — Tony Coleman recognizes the signs all too well. A cow drools strings of saliva. Then it starts to limp, each step slower. Then it grows stiff.

Then it’s quick. There’s nothing to be done. The cow dies.

Since early 2023, the Grandview rancher has watched more than 35 of his 150 Black Angus cattle perish. July was especially brutal. In the span of a week, Coleman lost a 3-week-old calf; a cow; and Little Red, a strong bull full of spirit, leaving Coleman with nothing but unanswered questions.

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Since the passage of the Clean Water Act in 1972, many wastewater treatment plants have operated with a simple environmental trade-off — they treat water from population centers, industrial sources, landfills and elsewhere, and the leftover solids can be sent to farms to use as fertilizer.

But that arrangement has neared a breaking point in recent years, strained by new understanding of pollutants like PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. In communities around the U.S., the chemicals are exiting the plants via its sludge, known as biosolids, and in some cases contaminating farmland. 

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In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Wastewater Infrastructure Pollution Prevention and Environments Safety (WIPPES) Act (H.R. 2964), which would create national standards for “Do Not Flush” labeling for non-flushable wipes. The legislation passed out of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in December 2023 and has cleared the House floor in a bipartisan vote. The bill now awaits consideration in the Senate Science, Commerce, and Energy Committee.

This bipartisan legislation is intended to address the growing problem of sewer system clogs caused by improper disposal of consumer wipes that are not intended to be flushed down the toilet. This federal solution is the result of a years-long industry collaboration between the disposable wipes industry and wastewater operators which has resulted in the passage of similar legislation in seven states. The WIPPES Act will create a national standard based on existing state laws to ensure non-flushable wipes will carry prominent “Do Not Flush” labeling on packaging.  Stakeholders on both sides of the issue have reached out in support of the legislation.

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WWOA has lost one of its founding members, Peter J. Albers Jr., on August 28th, 2024. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Please see here a link to the official Obituary: https://www.myrhum-patten.com/obituary/Peter-AlbersJr