Published July 23, 2026 at 3:35 PM EDT

Proposed regulations would make New York the first state in the country to require leachate to be treated for environmental contaminants at landfills.

Earlier this month, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation proposed rules requiring landfills to treat leachate. Leachate is the contaminated liquid formed when water passes through landfill waste. The regulations aim to reduce PFAS and other harmful chemicals in drinking water.

Richard Clarkson, director of DEC's Bureau of Solid Waste Management, said that under current regulations, leachate has to be collected and treated, typically at a wastewater treatment plant. But he said these plants aren’t effective at decontamination.

“The bottom line is that those types of wastewater treatment plants just aren't designed to treat those types of chemicals," Clarkson said, "and so that's why we think a reduction or a removal of those chemicals from leaching before it's passed on to a wastewater treatment plant is ideal at this point."

Clarkson said that although other states have targeted PFAS in leachate, New York would be the first to include other industrial chemicals and heavy metals in its regulations.

This and other efforts by DEC to eliminate PFAS in drinking water come as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed rolling back PFAS regulations.

DEC is accepting comments on the proposed rules through Sept. 9.