Colorado

Active program

Cash buyback

$40/gal

Collected

Target

40,000 gal

Destruction

Aquagga HALT

Deadline

TodayApplication deadline Jun 30, 2026

⚠ A key deadline falls today: Application deadline Jun 30, 2026.

Federal law applies in every state

EPA set enforceable drinking-water limits for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion (2024). A May 2026 proposal would keep those two, extend compliance to 2031, and rescind the others. Proposed, not final.
Under CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act), PFOA and PFOS are hazardous substances, so cleanup liability is strict, retroactive, and joint and several.
Federally required uses at Part 139 airports and military installations follow federal rules regardless of state law.
The Department of Defense is phasing out AFFF under the NDAA.

Federal law in full Liability and litigation

State law and program in Colorado

House Bill 19-1279, the Firefighting Foams Control Act (2019) ↗, Senate Bill 20-218, the PFAS cash fund and takeback (2020) ↗

What's still allowed

AFFF use is banned for training/testing and for general discharge (with 24-hour spill reporting). Exemptions remain for federally-required uses. Part 139 commercial airports, military installations, fuel-storage and refinery facilities, and the Eisenhower–Johnson tunnels. Aircraft-hangar use was banned Jan 1, 2023.

How to get rid of PFAS foam

Register/self-certify foam with CDPHE (6 CCR 1007-3, Part 267, Subpart Q), then enroll in the Takeback program. Colorado pays $40/gallon and Aquagga collects and destroys it by HALT. The application window closes June 30, 2026; any release must be contained and reported within 24 hours.

Funding and help

Colorado pays $40 per gallon for PFAS foam turned in through the takeback, and destruction is covered.

Federal funding, available in every state

EPA Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities grant ↗, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Drinking Water State Revolving Fund ↗, including the infrastructure-law set-aside for emerging contaminants like PFAS.
FAA airport foam transition support ↗ for Part 139 commercial airports moving off fluorinated foam.
Fire departments with contaminated water may qualify as claimants in the aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) settlements.

Future plans

Buyback payments run through Dec 31, 2026.

Destruction & vendors

Foam in Colorado is handled by: Aquagga HALT. The only state takeback with a cash buyback ($40/gal); the program destroys foam via Aquagga's HALT process. Today's deadline is the application cutoff, not a use/sale ban. Payments run through Dec 31, 2026.

Official sources

Colorado official program page ↗cdphe_pfas@state.co.us ↗CDPHE self-certification ↗

A note for smaller departments

Large departments and municipalities usually have legal counsel and a budget to manage PFAS liability. Small and volunteer departments often do not. That makes a documented chain of custody and a certificate of destruction the strongest protection a small department has: proof that the foam was handled lawfully and never released. See liability and litigation.

⚠ Never discharge PFAS foam. Keep the certificate of destruction.

Firefighting foam containing PFAS cannot lawfully be released anywhere: not overboard, in a harbor or slip, down a drain or sewer, onto the ground, or into an ordinary landfill. Under CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act), PFOA and PFOS are hazardous substances, and disposal liability is strict, retroactive, and joint and several, so whoever sent the waste can be billed for the cleanup years later. Keep the certificate of destruction: if you cannot document that the foam was destroyed, you cannot prove where it went, and foam you cannot account for can be treated as a release to the environment, with the liability that follows. EPA / CERCLA ↗

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