Does the use of pesticides affect our Nation's water quality?
Pesticide use in the United States has increased because not only must we supply our exploding population with food, but crops and food are also grown for export to other countries. The United States has become the largest producer of food products in the world, partly owing to our use of modern chemicals (pesticides) to control the insects, weeds, and other organisms that attack food crops. But, as with many things in life, there's a hidden cost to the benefit we get from pesticides. We've learned that pesticides can potentially harm the environment and our own health. Water plays an important role here because it is one of the main ways that pesticides are transported from the areas where they are applied to other locations where they might cause health problems.
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Estimated Agricultural Pesticide Use Map
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Lowering pump down monitoring well to sample for pesticides
Lowering pump down monitoring well to sample for pesticides
USGS Scientist Collecting a Water-Quality Sample from Zollner Creek, Oregon, for the Analysis of Dissolved Pesticides
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Crop dusting spreads pesticides on agricultural lands, Albemarle Sound
Albemarle Sound National Monitoring Network Pilot
Albemarle Monitoring: Organics
Crop dusting is one technique used to spread pesticides on agricultural lands
in the Albemarle Sound region.