Pesticides in the atmosphere; distribution, trends, and governing factors

Abstract

The mission of the U.S . Geological Survey (USGS) is to assess the quantity and quality of the earth resources of the Nation and to provide information that will assist resource managers and policymakers at Federal, State, and local levels in making sound decisions. Assessment of water-quality conditions and trends is an important part of this overall mission.One of the greatest challenges faced by water-resources scientists is acquiring reliable information that will guide the use and protection of the Nation's water resources. That challenge is being addressed by Federal, State, interstate, and local water-resource agencies and by many academic institutions. These organizations are collecting water-quality data for a host of purposes that include: compliance with permits and water-supply standards; development of remediation plans for a specific contamination problem; operational decisions on industrial, wastewater, or water-supply facilities; and research on factors that affect water quality. An additional need for water-quality information is to provide a basis on which regional and national-level policy decisions can be based. Wise decisions must be based on sound information. As a society we need to know whether certain types of water-quality problems are isolated or ubiquitous, whether there are significant differences in conditions among regions, whether the conditions are changing over time, and why these conditions change from place to place and over time. The information can be used to help determine the efficacy of existing water-quality policies and to help analysts determine the need for and likely consequences of new policies.To address these needs, the Congress appropriated funds in 1986 for the USGS to begin a pilot program in seven project areas to develop and refine the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. In 1991, the USGS began full implementation of the program. The NAWQA Program builds upon an existing base of water-quality studies of the USGS, as well as those of other Federal, State, and local agencies. The objectives of the NAWQA Program are to:• Describe current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's freshwater streams, rivers, and aquifers.• Describe how water quality is changing over time.• Improve understanding of the primary natural and human factors that affect water-quality conditions. This information will help support the development and evaluation of management, regulatory, and monitoring decisions by other Federal, State, and local agencies to protect, use, and enhance water resources.The goals of the NAWQA Program are being achieved through ongoing and proposed investigations of 60 of the Nation's most important river basins and aquifer systems, which are referred to as study units. These study units are distributed throughout the Nation and cover a diversity of hydrogeologic settings. More than two-thirds of the Nation's freshwater use occurs within the 60 study units and more than two-thirds of the people served by public water-supply system...

Current status of persistent organic pesticides residues in air, water, and soil, and their possible effect on neighboring countries: A comprehensive review of India

“…evaporate from the soil and foliage, and move away from the initial application area) and reach into every area of the environment, thereby contaminating them adversely (USGS, 1995). More than 80-90% of pesticides are volatilized within a few days of application on crops or in the health sector (Majewski and Capel, 1995).…”

Herbicides and Their Metabolites in Rainfall: Origin, Transport, and Deposition Patterns across the Midwestern and Northeastern United States, 1990−1991

“…Because of the differences in vapor pressure, more atrazine than alachlor would be transported on particles that are more efficiently scavenged by rainfall than are gases. Even 1 mm of rainfall can effectively cleanse the atmosphere of most particles (20). Conversely, more alachlor than atrazine would be transported in the gas phase.…”

“…For example, the transport of chlorinated insecticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) into the Great Lakes is largely from atmospheric sources (11). More than two dozen agricultural pesticides have been reported in fog and rainfall in the United States (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20), Canada (21), and Europe (22,23). Examples of these pesticides include carbamate insecticides (carbaryl and carbofuran), organochlorine insecticides (chlordane, DDT, lindane, mirex, and toxaphene), and organophosphorus insecticides (chloropyrifos, diazinon, fonofos, malathion, methidathion, and parathion).…”

Enzyme vs. Bacterial Electrochemical Sensors for Organophosphorus Pesticides Quantification

“…Although less persistent than the organochlorine pesticides, their widespread usage poses risk to man and his environment. Pesticides pollution results from agricultural practices, from industrial waste or discharge, from seepage of buried toxic wastes, and from run-off during spraying (Larson et al, 1997;Majewski & Capel, 1995;Vighi & Funari, 1995). Pesticides production, distribution, use, exposure, environmental levels, and maximum permissible levels in drinking water and food are subject of regulations in accordance with the national and international legislations.…”