Where are the Pesticides?

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and the University of Iowa Hygienic Laboratory have been studying the occurrence and distribution of herbicides and their degradates in Iowa's ground water. Iowa is in the heart of the Corn Belt, a multi-state area that has the most productive farmland in the world. The agricultural productivity of this area goes hand in hand with the extensive use of herbicides to control weeds. Past studies on herbicides in ground water have only studied herbicide parent compounds and found minimal concentrations of herbicides. The study has shown that

• Herbicide degradates are prevalent in ground water. Degradates were 8 of the 10 most frequently detected compounds in the study
  
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• The frequencies of detection for a given herbicide in ground water generally increased many fold when its degradates were included.
  
  
  
  
• A majority of a herbicide's measured concentration was in the form of its degradates, ranging from 55 to over 99 percent of the total concentration.
  
  
  
  
• This study demonstrates that obtaining data on herbicide degradates is critical for understanding the fate of herbicides in the environment. Furthermore, to accurately determine the overall effect on human health and the environment from a specific herbicide, its degradates should also be considered.

The results of this study and other Toxics Program studies have prompted the USGS's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program to double the number of degradates in its national assessment on the occurrence of pesticides. In addition, the State of Iowa is now including pesticide degradates in the State's plan for water-quality monitoring.

More Information on Pesticides

• Agricultural Chemicals in the Upper Midwest (Corn Belt) Investigation
• The Fate of Cotton Pesticides in the Southern United States Investigation
• Topical Information on Agricultural Chemicals
• Glyphosate Found in Wastewater Discharged to Streams
• A Decade of Research on the Occurrence of Triazine Herbicides in the Environment Leads to a Unique Summary
• Glyphosate Herbicide Found in Many Midwestern Streams, Antibiotics Not Common
• Tracking Atrazine and a Breakdown Product (deethylatrazine) through a Drinking-Water Reservoir
• Measuring Pesticides and How They Transform in the Environment
• Management Practices a Factor in Herbicide Declines
• Degradates: A Key to Assessing Herbicide Impacts in Streams
• Science of the Total Environment Special Issue on Agricultural Chemicals

References

Kolpin, D.W., Thurman, E.M., and Linhart, S.M., 1999, Finding minimal herbicide concentrations in ground water? Try looking for the degradates, in Morganwalp, D.W., and Buxton, H.T., eds., U.S. Geological Survey Toxic Substances Hydrology Program--Proceedings of the Technical Meeting, Charleston, South Carolina, March 8-12, 1999--Volume 2 of 3--Contamination of Hydrologic Systems and Related Ecosystems: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4018B, p. 247-254.

Kolpin, D.W., Thurman, E.M., and Linhart, S.M., 1998, The environmental occurrence of herbicides--The importance of degradates in ground water: Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, v. 35, n. 3, p. 385-390.

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