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PESTICIDES AND THE CHESAPREAKE BAY WATERSHED PROJECT

THE ISSUE

Aquatic life in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are stressed by various pollutants resulting from human activity, including the use of chemical pesticides. Two recent USGS reports (Gilliom et al. 2006; Phillips et al. 2007), emphasize that reducing the current significant levels of chemical pesticides flowing into the Bay should be a priority for agencies working to protect the Bay. The 2007 USGS report found that ¿synthetic organic pesticides and their degradation products have been widely detected at low levels in the watershed [Susquehanna River Basin, Potomac River Basin, Delmarva Peninsula], including emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and hormones.¿ Other recent reports indicate that pesticides and their degradates (break down products) could occur in concentrations that exceed water quality benchmarks.. For example, a local USGS team found that while concentrations of parent compounds in Maryland coastal plain ground water samples were lower than drinking water standards, pesticide degradates in those samples were found to exceed the parent compounds.

Even at low levels, toxic effects from pesticides can place additional stress on resident microbiota, plants, fish and other wildlife. Reduction in the growth of key living resources of the Chesapeake Bay have been observed in the laboratory at low part per billion concentrations. The cumulative effect of pesticides and their degradates further threatens the living resources of the Chesapeake, the largest and most biologically diverse estuary in the United States.

Some pesticides also bioaccumulate in larger fish or contribute to adverse reproductive effects, such as the occurrence of eggs in male fish.

Pesticide contamination of drinking water and edible fish can also harm people who live in the Chesapeake region.

The agricultural sector accounts for about 80 percent of pesticide use in the United States, but pesticides are also found in a wide range of everyday household products ¿ including weed and insect killers, hand soap and kitchen cleansers ¿ and often end up in ground and surface waters flowing into the Chesapeake. Runoff from golf courses is another significant source of pesticide pollution.

THE PROJECT MISSION

On May 14, 2007, Maryland Pesticide Network and co-sponsor, Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, established the Pesticides and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Project ¿the first working group in Maryland dedicated to reducing the occurrence and risks of pesticides in the Watershed in order to protect water quality, aquatic life, wildlife and public health.

PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Project stakeholders include scientists, public health experts, waterkeepers, watermen, federal, state, and county government agency representatives, representatives of the agricultural community and pest management industry, environmental organizations, policymakers, and others.

PROJECT GOALS

At the first stakeholder meeting held in May 2007, stakeholders established five ongoing working groups that met quarterly over the past year in order to:

  • Identify relevant research and data gaps regarding the impact of pesticides and their metabolites found in the watershed on water quality, aquatic life, wild life, and public health, and to identify the main pesticides of concern in the watershed.

  • Identify Best Management Practices (BMP's) and new technologies aimed at preventing pesticides from entering waterways and methodologies for substituting less-toxic alternatives.

  • Develop a strong and interactive relationship with the agricultural community to educate this community about BMPs, and potential health hazards resulting from exposures to certain pesticides, as well as to provide the support necessary for the agricultural community's implementation of BMPs.

  • Educate residential and commercial communities about preventing pesticides from entering the watershed and, integrated pest management and natural landcare in order to reduce their pesticide use and encourage the use of non-chemical and least-toxic alternatives.

  • Assess the need for strengthening and expanding existing policies and laws and identify needed policies to reduce the impact of pesticides on the watershed.

SECOND ANNUAL STAKEHOLDER MEETING

The second annual Project stakeholder meeting took place on June 11, 2008.This meeting brought together project stakeholders to share the progress achieved by the working groups and to collaborate further on the shared goal of reducing the watershed's pesticide load.

Presentations from the 6/11/08 Working Group on Pesticides in the Chesapeake Bay

Presentations from the 5/14/07 Working Group on Pesticides in the Chesapeake Bay