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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20-Year Study Shows Levels of Pesticides Still a Concern for Aquatic Life in U.S. Rivers and Streams
Levels of pesticides continue to be a concern for aquatic life in many of the Nation’s rivers and streams in agricultural and urban areas, according to a new USGS study spanning two decades (1992-2011). Pesticide levels seldom exceeded human health benchmarks.
Pesticides in the Nation's Streams and Ground Water
Today, the U.S. Geological Survey released a report describing the occurrence of pesticides in streams and ground water during 1992-2001.
Pesticide Levels in Streams and Rivers -- CIDA, WARP
Estimated Agricultural Pesticide Use Map
Pesticide Map for Pollinator Story
These USGS maps show the increase in imidacloprid pesticide (one pesticide correlated with collapse in bee colonies) on agricultural land from 1992 to 2014 in the conterminous United States.
Pesticide sampling at Conowingo Dam
Water Quality sampling off of catwalk at Conowingo Dam.
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
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologic technician Dan Polette collecting a water-quality sample from Zollner Creek, Oregon for a national-scale investigation of the environmental occurrence of neonicotinoid insecticides in agricultural and urban settings.
...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.