New Jersey’s identity has always been closely tied to its waterways, from the Hudson and Delaware rivers to Barnegat Bay and the Atlantic coast. Protecting these waters has long been a top environmental priority, but the state’s wastewater infrastructure is facing increasing strain. Treating PFAS is one of the most demanding challenges facing New Jersey’s system, and freeing treatment facilities from the added burden of processing liquid industrial waste would ease pressure on the process as a whole.
Public treatment plants are being asked to handle growing amounts of non-hazardous industrial liquid waste. These facilities were built to treat sewage, not specialized industrial wastewaters, which can add salinity, trace contaminants, and financial strain. Some plants even treat waste that originates in other states — a sign that New Jersey needs alternative waste management strategies to relieve pressure on public systems.
Public wastewater utilities continue to do an exceptional job protecting public health, relying on existing treatment technology and ongoing testing and monitoring. But despite those efforts, no currently available technology can fully remove PFAS from treated wastewater or residual biosolids.
In parts of the Midwest and South, several states use an approach well suited to their geology: deep underground injection, one of the most tightly regulated waste management practices in the country. These injection wells are designed to keep approved liquids safely thousands of feet beneath drinking water aquifers and away from surface ecosystems. Federal regulators have taken notice — the EPA’s 2026 Guidance on the Destruction and Disposal of PFAS placed underground injection control among a select group of three technologies shown to reduce the risk of environmental PFAS release, recognizing it as one of the more protective options available. For New Jersey, directing eligible waste to these facilities is a responsible choice.
Transporting waste to these approved out-of-state facilities could reduce the pollutants — including PFAS — entering New Jersey’s waterways, preserve treatment capacity for sewage, and help control rising infrastructure costs for ratepayers. Some critics may view interstate waste disposal skeptically, but regional solutions are common in environmental management. Recyclables, energy resources, and waste already move across state lines, because geography often determines where materials can be handled most responsibly.
New Jersey is a national leader in environmental protection. Adopting a pragmatic, science-based regional strategy would safeguard the state’s waterways, support municipalities, and ensure the right tool is applied to the right challenge. Underground injection isn’t a permanent fix — it’s a bridge solution until large-scale PFAS destruction technologies become commercially viable, and a complement to handle residuals once those technologies are scaled up. Cleaner water sometimes means looking beyond state lines. In this case, the greener choice for certain non-hazardous liquids may lie beneath the surface of other states — a path that could ultimately support a healthier future for New Jersey.
David Smith is the director of the Disposal Options Group and has more than 30 years of experience in public affairs and coalition management.
