State lawmakers next session want to strengthen laws prohibiting PFAS, or the "forever chemicals" that have been found to poison ground and drinking water — and electeds on both sides of the aisle are on board.

The Legislature will consider a variety of proposals to prohibit the manufacturing and use of these chemicals in the state, which have been found to disrupt the endocrine and immune systems, child development, hormones and fertility, according to The National Institute of Health.

"The groundwater should be protected, but the wastewater treatment plants aren't really capable of doing the kinds of testing that we obviously need," Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee chair Deborah Glick told Spectrum News 1 after a public hearing on the chemicals in Albany. "...The grants that we provide for clean water, we may need to increase that."

PFAS are found in clothes, food packaging and other household products. The pollutants were first developed in the 1940s to be resistant to oil, water and heat, and are known for their resistance to breaking down.

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Conservation told lawmakers Thursday the man-made chemicals are present in each of the state's superfund sites, or areas contaminated with hazardous materials, and most inactive landfills.

The agency has found harmful levels of PFAS in over 400 inactive landfills across the state.

"Most of these landfills are in rural areas where people are on well water," said Patrick Foster, the DEC's deputy commissioner for environmental remediation.

The agency regulates and tests the landfill runoff, and is gathering data by testing other wastewater streams and private drinking wells.

The DEC has relied on the state's Superfund Program to clean up PFAS at identified sites contaminated with hazardous waste. The fund is due to be reauthorized next year. DEC officials said they expect to have conversations with state leaders about the increased need to spend those dollars to clean up PFAS at those locations.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of existing PFAS chemicals continue to rapidly evolve.

"There have to be other means because these chemicals didn't exist years ago," Glick said. "And we know the cost of cleanup is always greater than the prevention."

Glick said the Legislature will work to pass legislation next session to ban PFAS in consumer and personal care products and in food packaging in the state.

She also wants more for state agencies in the next budget to test wastewater streams for the chemicals and improve access to clean water.

"The sooner we do it, the healthier New Yorkers will be and the less cost there will be both to taxpayers and industry," the assemblywoman added.

Assemblymember Anna Kelles sponsors a bill to require pharmaceutical companies be transparent about the use of PFAS in medications and other products. She also carries legislation to mandate washing machines sold in the state have a filter to sift out microplastics that have high levels of the "forever" chemicals.

"State by state, we are going to have to do things statewide and not depend or expect that the federal government will be an honest partner in that process," Kelles said of President-elect Donald Trump's next administration.

Panelists and lawmakers Thursday argued PFAS must be targeted at the source, or industries putting them in consumer products or releasing them to wastewater treatment sites.

Both Republicans and Democrats participated in the hearing and are aligned behind the effort to limit these "forever chemicals," but wonder what the right standard will look like for New York consumers.

"We have to be able to answer the question 'what are we willing to live without?' and I don't know what that answer is right now," said Assemblyman John Lemondes, a Republican from LaFayette.

"Because that's going to be different for all of us," he added. "So what's the public standard that applies that we can all live with?"

Lawmakers continue to be concerned about biosolids, or recycling material created from treating sewage and wastewater treatment plants that has high levels of PFAS, and spreading it over farmland.

About 25% of biosolids in the state are placed on farmland, according to the DEC. Department officials said the state will use new guidelines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency expected by the end of the year as the federal agency finalizes a risk assessment of biosolids.