The goal of the National Water Program is to protect and improve the quality of water resources throughout the United States and its territories through research, education and extension efforts. The National Water Program has identified Nutrient and Pesticide Management as a theme on which to focus these efforts.

What are CSREES and the Land Grant System doing to improve Nutrient and Pesticide Management?

potato fields in MaineResearch funded by CSREES and within the Land Grant University System is exploring and assessing approaches and new techniques to reduce or target appropriate levels of nutrient and pesticide use in agriculture, at home, and in commercial sectors. Researchers are tracking nutrient and pesticide contamination, monitoring best management practices (BMPs) and developing nutrient and pesticide management tools (including components of precision agriculture, nutrient budgets, the Phosphorus Index, pesticide screening tools, and assessment tools). Animal waste management and organic farming are being investigated. Other practices, including onsite wastewater alternatives and sustainable landscaping external link, are being developed and assessed. With this research, more tools are becoming available to improve the management of nutrients and pesticides in rural and agricultural watersheds thereby minimizing their impact on water quality. In addition, researchers are evaluating nutrient and pesticide management at the watershed scale and from social and economic perspectives.

Extension programs bring this knowledge developed by researchers to producers, homeowners, members of the commercial industry, and policy makers. Extension personnel educate about and encourage the use of BMPs. Most training and certification of producers in the best use of nutrients and pesticides occurs through Extension programming. Extension also promotes cutting edge tools to producers that can decrease nutrient and pesticide release into surface and ground water. In the urban sector, Master Gardeners, Home*A*Syst, and sustainable landscaping programs encourage homeowners to adapt nutrient and pesticide management practices at home.

At Land Grant Universities and Colleges, in the classroom and through fellowship and internship programs, students participate in research and extension efforts that train them to work across the agricultural and environmental interface.


Why is Nutrient and Pesticide Management Important?

Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and pesticides are pollutants of both surface and ground water. According to EPA, nutrient pollution is the leading cause of water quality impairment in lakes and estuaries and the third leading cause in rivers. USGS reports that pesticides or their transformation products have been detected in the ground water of more than 43 states in the United States.

Elevated nitrogen, most commonly entering the environment from agricultural and home fertilizer use, animal waste, septic systems, and atmospheric deposition, can cause anthropogenic eutrophication (stimulation of algal and plant growth, decrease in water clarity, depletion of dissolved oxygen in deep waters, and potential fish and shellfish death) of coastal waters and human health concerns in drinking water, most notably methemoglobinemia (blue baby syndrome) in infants. Phosphorus, often originating from agricultural and home fertilizer use and animal waste, can also cause eutrophication of inland waters. Current and historical uses of pesticides in agriculture, at home, along roadsides, and in forestry have led to groundwater contamination, damage to aquatic organisms and plants, and human health concerns. By carefully managing nutrient and pesticide use, water quality can be maintained or improved.


This area of the National Water Program website will soon feature content that demonstrates how Nutrient and Pesticide Management is being addressed across the nation through research, education and extension programming.

More information on how Nutrient and Pesticide Management issues are being addressed throughout the country is available via these CSREES Regional Water Quality Programs (these external links will open in a new window) external link:

Great Lakes Heartland Mid-Atlantic New England New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands
Northern Plains and Mountains Pacific Northwest Southern Southwest and Pacific Islands

The following people generously volunteered their time and expertise to assist with the development of the Nutrient and Pesticide Management area of this website:

This National Theme website was developed and is maintained by , , and Alison Milliman, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI 02881.