Pesticides and Water Quality Active
Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill pests, including insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides). The USGS assesses the occurrence and behavior of pesticides in streams, lakes, and groundwater and the potential for pesticides to contaminate our drinking-water supplies or harm aquatic ecosystems.
NOTICE: The USGS agricultural pesticide-use estimates are supported by funding from the USGS National Water Quality Program for the purpose of better understanding pesticides in freshwater and their impact on water availability nationwide. The USGS recently updated its plan to publish pesticide-use estimates. Final annual pesticide-use estimates, for approximately 400 compounds, from 2018-22 will be published in 2025. After that, preliminary estimates will be published annually and later updated with final estimates once the USDA Census of Agriculture is released (every five years). The total number of pesticides included in the analysis will fluctuate annually, based on data availability from our pesticide use survey contract provider. (Updated February 27, 2024)
Pesticides are used in agriculture, in homes and businesses, on lawns and gardens, along roads, in recreational areas, and on pets and livestock. There are hundreds of different pesticide chemicals in use in the United States. In 2007, about 390 million kilograms (430,000 tons) of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, were used in the United States. Pesticides released into the environment for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes can contaminate surface water and groundwater, which are critical sources of drinking water.
The USGS, through its National Water Quality Program, researches numerous aspects of pesticides and water quality, and has developed maps, graphics, and tools to aid in understanding where pesticides occur, at what concentrations, and potential consequences.
- Pesticide Use: The tables, maps, and graphs provided on this web site provide estimates of agricultural pesticide use in the conterminous United States for hundreds of pesticides.
- Trends in Pesticide Occurrence in Streams: Use the online tool to view a national maps of trends in pesticide concentrations in streams.
- Concentrations of Pesticides in Water of Potential Human-Health Concern: This searchable online database provides Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides and degradates.
- Pesticide Toxicity to Aquatic Organisms: The Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) can be used to assess the potential toxicity of pesticide mixtures in water to freshwater aquatic organisms. Benchmarks also are available for pesticides in sediment.
- Pesticides and Stream Ecology: The Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) is assessing how chemical stressors, such as pesticides and nutrients, and physical stressors, such as disturbed streambanks and sedimentation, are affecting the aquatic organisms that live in small streams across the United States.
- Pesticides and Lake Sediment: Many pesticides dissolve in water, but some pesticides, like DDT and chlordane, adhere to sediment and persist for years in the bed sediments of stream and lakes, recording the history of contaminant use in watershed.
Learn more about USGS research on pesticides and related water-quality topics at the web pages below.
Below, you'll find links to data sets developed for investigation of pesticides.
Below, you’ll find the latest in peer-reviewed journal articles and USGS reports on pesticides and water quality. For more publications on this topic, search the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Relations between pesticide use and riverine flux in the Mississippi River Basin
Analysis and detection of the new corn herbicide acetochlor in river water and rain
A chemodynamic approach for estimating losses of target organic chemicals from water during sample holding time
Precision of a splitting device for water samples
Aerodynamic measurements of methyl bromide volatilization from tarped and nontarped fields
National standards and guidelines for pesticides in water, sediment, and aquatic organisms
Guidelines for collecting and processing samples of stream bed sediment for analysis of trace elements and organic contaminants for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
Field guide for collecting and processing stream-water samples for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
Pesticide science in the news! Read recent highlights.
- Overview
Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill pests, including insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides). The USGS assesses the occurrence and behavior of pesticides in streams, lakes, and groundwater and the potential for pesticides to contaminate our drinking-water supplies or harm aquatic ecosystems.
NOTICE: The USGS agricultural pesticide-use estimates are supported by funding from the USGS National Water Quality Program for the purpose of better understanding pesticides in freshwater and their impact on water availability nationwide. The USGS recently updated its plan to publish pesticide-use estimates. Final annual pesticide-use estimates, for approximately 400 compounds, from 2018-22 will be published in 2025. After that, preliminary estimates will be published annually and later updated with final estimates once the USDA Census of Agriculture is released (every five years). The total number of pesticides included in the analysis will fluctuate annually, based on data availability from our pesticide use survey contract provider. (Updated February 27, 2024)
Pesticides are used in agriculture, in homes and businesses, on lawns and gardens, along roads, in recreational areas, and on pets and livestock. There are hundreds of different pesticide chemicals in use in the United States. In 2007, about 390 million kilograms (430,000 tons) of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, were used in the United States. Pesticides released into the environment for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes can contaminate surface water and groundwater, which are critical sources of drinking water.
The USGS, through its National Water Quality Program, researches numerous aspects of pesticides and water quality, and has developed maps, graphics, and tools to aid in understanding where pesticides occur, at what concentrations, and potential consequences.
- Pesticide Use: The tables, maps, and graphs provided on this web site provide estimates of agricultural pesticide use in the conterminous United States for hundreds of pesticides.
- Trends in Pesticide Occurrence in Streams: Use the online tool to view a national maps of trends in pesticide concentrations in streams.
- Concentrations of Pesticides in Water of Potential Human-Health Concern: This searchable online database provides Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides and degradates.
- Pesticide Toxicity to Aquatic Organisms: The Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) can be used to assess the potential toxicity of pesticide mixtures in water to freshwater aquatic organisms. Benchmarks also are available for pesticides in sediment.
- Pesticides and Stream Ecology: The Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) is assessing how chemical stressors, such as pesticides and nutrients, and physical stressors, such as disturbed streambanks and sedimentation, are affecting the aquatic organisms that live in small streams across the United States.
- Pesticides and Lake Sediment: Many pesticides dissolve in water, but some pesticides, like DDT and chlordane, adhere to sediment and persist for years in the bed sediments of stream and lakes, recording the history of contaminant use in watershed.
- Science
Learn more about USGS research on pesticides and related water-quality topics at the web pages below.
- Data
Below, you'll find links to data sets developed for investigation of pesticides.
- Publications
Below, you’ll find the latest in peer-reviewed journal articles and USGS reports on pesticides and water quality. For more publications on this topic, search the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 116Relations between pesticide use and riverine flux in the Mississippi River Basin
In an intensive subcontimental study of pesticides in surface waters of the United States, concentrations of 26 high-use pesticides were measured at nine sites in the Mississippi River basin from May 1991 through March 1992. Calculated total fluxes were combined with agricultural-use data to estimate the percentage of applied pesticide reaching the mouths of the Mississippi River and six major triAuthorsSteven J. Larson, Paul D. Capel, Donald A. Goolsby, Steven D. Zaugg, Mark W. SandstromAnalysis and detection of the new corn herbicide acetochlor in river water and rain
No abstract available.AuthorsPaul D. Capel, Lin Ma, B. R. Schroyer, Steven J. Larson, T.A. GilchristA chemodynamic approach for estimating losses of target organic chemicals from water during sample holding time
Minimizing the loss of target organic chemicals from environmental water samples between the time of sample collection and isolation is important to the integrity of an investigation. During this sample holding time, there is a potential for analyte loss through volatilization from the water to the headspace, sorption to the walls and cap of the sample bottle; and transformation through biotic andAuthorsP. D. Capel, S.J. LarsonPrecision of a splitting device for water samples
Two identical cone splitters, devices designed to split water and its suspended solids into equal aliquots for semi-volatile organic chemical and trace element analyses, were evaluated for their precision. The water-splitting evaluations consisted of experiments to test the effect of water volume, the effect of combining outlet ports, and the effect of different techniques of water introduction. TAuthorsPaul D. Capel, Fernando C. Nacionales, Steven J. LarsonAerodynamic measurements of methyl bromide volatilization from tarped and nontarped fields
Methyl bromide (MeBr) is used extensively in agriculture as a soil fumigant and there is growing concern over the role it may play in the depletion of stratospheric ozone. Methyl bromide is applied using various techniques and very little is known about how much of the applied fumigant volatilizes into the atmosphere after the application. This held study was designed to estimate the post-applicatAuthorsM.S. Majewski, M.M. McChesney, J.E. Woodrow, J.H. Prueger, J.N. SeiberNational standards and guidelines for pesticides in water, sediment, and aquatic organisms
The effects of pesticides1 on water quality commonly are assessed by comparing measured concentrations of individual pesticide compounds in the environment with concentrations that have been determined to have potential adverse effects on humans, aquatic organisms, or other beneficial uses of water. Direct evaluation of the adverse effects of every pesticide present in a given hydrologic system isAuthorsL.H. Nowell, E.A. ResekGuidelines for collecting and processing samples of stream bed sediment for analysis of trace elements and organic contaminants for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
A major component of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment program is to assess the occurrence and distribution of trace elements and organic contaminants in streams. The first phase of the strategy for the assessment is to analyze samples of bed sediments from depositional zones. Fine-grained particles deposited in these zones are natural accumulators of trace elements anAuthorsLarry R. Shelton, Paul D. CapelField guide for collecting and processing stream-water samples for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
The U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment program includes extensive data- collection efforts to assess the quality of the Nations's streams. These studies require analyses of stream samples for major ions, nutrients, sediments, and organic contaminants. For the information to be comparable among studies in different parts of the Nation, consistent procedures specifically desiAuthorsLarry R. Shelton - News
Pesticide science in the news! Read recent highlights.