Synagro biosolids and PFAS in Texas
- Communities and civil society Five farm families, Johnson County: Allege that sludge spread on a neighbouring field contaminated their water sources and killed their animals. KERA News
- Company or project Synagro: Denies the allegations. KERA News
- Government and regulators Johnson County: Declared a PFAS emergency in February 2025. KERA News
Five farm families in Johnson County, Texas, sued Synagro in 2024, alleging that sewage sludge spread on a neighbouring field contaminated their water and killed animals. The company denies the claims.
Filed 2024; the company denies the claims.
Status As of the latest source held (KERA, December 2024; county emergency declared February 2025): the lawsuit against Synagro is pending and no ruling is recorded.
- Goldman Sachs fund (owner of Synagro) — Owner of the company that manages the sludge; no earnings are given in the record held. EQT
- Five farm families, Johnson County — Allege contaminated water sources and dead animals. KERA News
- Livestock and water sources, Johnson County — Alleged by the families; denied by Synagro. KERA News
What happened
Synagro manages sewage sludge for municipalities. A 2020 EQT announcement recorded the sale of Synagro to a Goldman Sachs fund, and described the company as managing more than 14 million tonnes of sludge a year.
In 2024 five farm families in Johnson County, Texas, sued Synagro. They alleged that sludge spread on a neighbouring field had contaminated their water sources and killed their animals. Synagro denies the allegations.
The county declared a PFAS emergency in February 2025, according to KERA reporting.
A draft risk assessment from the US Environmental Protection Agency, dated January 2025, found that sludge containing only 1 part per billion of PFOA or PFOS could exceed the risk threshold.
- 2020September: EQT announces the sale of Synagro to a Goldman Sachs fund
- 2024Five farm families in Johnson County sue Synagro
- 2025January: EPA draft risk assessment on PFOA and PFOS in sludge; February: Johnson County declares a PFAS emergency
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Allege that sludge spread on a neighbouring field contaminated their water sources and killed their animals.
KERA NewsHow it looked
Shown
Recorded
- Five farm families sued Synagro in 2024; the company denies the allegations.
- Johnson County declared a PFAS emergency in February 2025.
- Synagro was sold to a Goldman Sachs fund in 2020 and manages more than 14 million tonnes of sludge a year.
- EPA draft risk assessment (January 2025): risk threshold can be exceeded at 1 ppb of PFOA or PFOS in sludge.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- Synagro (2024): Denies the families' allegations. · KERA News
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
- 2024–OngoingJohnson County farm families v. SynagroCourt not stated in the record held · Civil · Five farm families → Synagro
The families allege that sludge spread on a neighbouring field contaminated their water sources and killed their animals. Synagro denies the claims. KERA News
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
- Disputed Did sludge spread on a neighbouring field contaminate the families' water and kill their animals?
Figures
- Insufficient Pfos ppt calf liver: Reported by The New Lede; not independently verified.
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a stillborn calf's liver was reported to have contained 610,000 parts per trillion of PFOS (The New Lede, February 2024).
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the product Synagro sold was reported to have been marketed as "safe and organic".
- None on record No court ruling on the Johnson County claims is recorded in the sources held.
Did the harm stop?
Not recorded in the sources held.
Who paid?
Not determined: the lawsuit is pending and no ruling is recorded in the sources held.
Sources
Company or project
- EQT Infrastructure to sell SynagroEQT · 2020-09
Press and investigations
- Dead livestock and poisoned water: Texas farmers sue over PFAS contaminationThe New Lede · 2024-02
- North Texas farmers say sewage-based fertilizer poisoned land and livestockKERA News · 2024-12-03
Connected cases
- US Defense Department PFAS costs top USD 9.3 billion at 718 installations United States · 2022–2025 Related matter
- Five Texas farm families sue Synagro over sewage-sludge fertilizer United States · 2024–2025
- Synagro (Company) — here: Sludge manager; defendant; there: Company that handles the sewage sludge; defendant in the lawsuit
- Goldman Sachs (Bank) — here: Owner of Synagro through a fund (since the 2020 sale); there: Owns Synagro through a fund