In a commercial sense, farmers spray pesticides on their fields to warn off insects and other pests. If effective, the pesticides protect the crops and allow farmers to have a higher yield. That means more food for them to sell and more food for the rest of the world. Around your home, you and your neighbors may be using pesticides in your yard to kill weeds and keep pests out of your home.
When the alternative means pulling weeds every weekend and fighting spiders, cockroaches, ants and other pests that find their way into your home, spraying a few pesticides around your home may seem like a necessary evil and worth the cost to the environment. When used one farm lands and lawns in your neighborhood, pesticides can seep into the ground water and wind up back in your drinking water. Pesticides are poisonous in certain quantities, and they can be especially harmful to children — not to mention all of the organisms living in the water supply.
Pesticides in drinking water can have a crippling effect on the ecosystem as a whole from the plants living in the lakes and rivers where we get our water straight to our homes. Think of it this way: You see the positive effects of clean drinking water everyday when you turn on the faucet to fill up a cup or take a shower. You might not see the negative effects of pesticides in drinking water, but you might be taking clean drinking water for granted every day — something people in other neighborhoods might not be able to do.
As they say, knowledge is power. Pesticides come in different forms depending on application. You are probably most familiar with airborne ones, sprays that you might use on weeds in your garden or around the perimeter of your home.
Other pesticides, however, can be directly applied to the ground. Not all pesticides are innately toxic to the environment. In some cases, sunlight, bacteria in the soil and the pesticides chemical compound allow them to break down quickly without affecting the environment.
However, there are pesticides that create even more toxic chemicals when broken down, so this can cause problems as well. The harm a pesticide can do often depends on how volatile it is and its solubility.
If you think back to third-grade science, then you know that water evaporates when the temperature rises. Those particles can move easily once evaporated as they turn into clouds and vapor. When the particles become too heavy to hold in a cloud, rain or snow falls to the earth, depositing the water particles back down to the ground where it will eventually evaporate once more. In a nutshell, this is the water cycle.
When pesticides attach themselves to water particles, then they can enter the water cycle. Remember, clouds and vapor can move quickly, which means pesticides can as well. If water in a field near Houston evaporates, the pesticides in that field could be transported to waterways all over Texas and beyond.
That also means that pesticides used just about anywhere else in the world can make their way into your drinking water. The content of organic matter in soil influences how much water a soil can hold, and how well it will be able to adsorb pesticides. The shallower the depth to ground water, the less soil there will be to impede the flow of contaminants and fewer opportunities for degradation or adsorption of pesticides.
Growers should take extra precautions to protect ground water in areas where it is close to the soil surface. The permeability of the geologic layers between the soil and ground water such as gravel deposits, allow water and dissolved pesticides to percolate downward to ground water. Layers of clay are less permeable and inhibit the movement of water.
Ground water quality is most vulnerable in areas where permeability of geologic layers is rapid. High rates of rainfall or irrigation may result in large amounts of water percolating through the soil and are highly susceptible to pesticide leaching and contamination caused by runoff.
When using any pesticide product, follow label directions. The label provides important instructions for obtaining the greatest benefit from the product and minimizing its environmental impact. Label directions include proper mixing and application, as well as pesticide storage and disposal.
More pesticide spills happen while measuring and mixing pesticides than in any other phase of application. Make sure mixing areas are over an impervious surface such as concrete to prevent a spill from soaking into unprotected soil. Measure the concentrate carefully and accurately. Never leave a tank while it is being filled. Overfilling the tank and spilling pesticide out on the ground can easily be prevented.
Calibrate spray equipment. Accurately calibrating application equipment is vital to spraying the right amount of product on the crop. Over application increases the risk of contaminating water. It may also overload the protective mechanisms of degradation, adsorption and result in water contamination.
Maintain spray equipment. Application equipment should be tested frequently to determine if it is working properly. A trial run with plain water helps to determine the spray pressure needed to cover a specific area at the labeled rate. Check all nozzles for possible clogs. After each use, clean equipment inside and out by triple rinsing and dispose of rinsate according to label instructions.
Knowledge of the site and application methods are helpful for preventing water contamination. Know where the wells are located and condition of the well. Know the depth to groundwater and where surface water is located. After identifying these factors, make plans for protecting them. Agricultural Experiment Station. Commercial Horticulture. Environmental Conservation. Pesticides reach creeks and rivers through storm drains and household drains When you apply a pesticide or fertilizer outdoors, some of the material may move to other locations.
Storm drains are frequently located in streets. Rain and runoff from garden and lawn irrigation runs down the streets through gutters into the storm drains. In most California cities, the runoff flows through pipes directly into our creeks, rivers, and oceans. Sewers run from drains within the home and carry wastewater from toilets, sinks, and showers to treatment plants.
0コメント