{"id":29059,"date":"2021-04-16T00:01:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T04:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=29059"},"modified":"2021-04-15T19:00:26","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T23:00:26","slug":"pesticide-pollution-in-recreational-lakes-documented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/04\/pesticide-pollution-in-recreational-lakes-documented\/","title":{"rendered":"Pesticide Pollution in Recreational Lakes Documented"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, April 16, 2021)\u00a0Recent research, published in Environmental Pollution<\/em> in late 2020<\/a>, examines levels and persistence of pesticide pollution in recreational lakes. The study finds: (1) concentrations of the neonicotinoid imidacloprid at levels exceeding ecotoxicity limits for aquatic invertebrates in a recreational lake that receives predominately urban runoff, and (2) that pesticide residues persist in the studied lakes throughout the growing season. Based on their findings, the scientists emphasized the importance of stricter regulation of insecticide compounds, and of better education about their impacts. Beyond Pesticides maintains that neonicotinoid pesticides should be banned for several reasons, not least of which is the extreme damage they cause to pollinators<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The goal of the study was to evaluate potential ecosystem exposure to pesticide contamination in Midwestern recreational lakes, as well as the persistence of pesticide residues in those water bodies over the course of the growing season. Study authors hypothesized that watersheds with significant agricultural land uses would have higher concentrations of pesticides compared to largely urban and herbaceous watersheds.<\/p>\r\n

This research, out of the University of Nebraska\u2013Lincoln and the University of Kentucky, looked to evaluate the occurrence of neonicotinoid and organothiophosphate insecticides, and some fungicides, in three lakes with differing dominant land uses in watersheds of Nebraska\u2019s Lower Platte River Basin. The land uses of the three context watersheds were classified as: herbaceous (mostly grassy prairie, shrubs, and open vegetated areas, and excluding forested or woody areas); urban (primarily residentially developed areas); and agricultural (largely production fields planted with soybeans and corn). Each watershed had multiple kinds of land uses within it, but the designated categorical use was dominant compared to the others. Researchers aimed to assess the occurrence of commonly used pesticides, such as neonicotinoid and organothiophosphate insecticides, as well as strobilurin and acylamino acid fungicides, in the lakes.<\/p>\r\n

Two of the 12 compounds the study assessed \u2014 imidacloprid<\/a> and clothianidin<\/a> \u2014 are very commonly used neonicotinoids<\/a> (neonics) found in both urban and agricultural areas. Imidacloprid is used to treat soil, seeds, and foliage of vegetable and cotton crops to control sucking insects such as rice hoppers, aphids, thrips, whiteflies, various turf and soil insects, and some beetles. It is also used in pet flea treatments and in home gardens. Clothianidin is used similarly, on food (e.g., corn, soybean, leafy greens, and fruit) and non-food crops, as well as on turf and residential areas.\u00a0It is used to control many of the same insects as imidacloprid targets, and is likewise applied to leaves, soil, or seeds.<\/p>\r\n

Clothianidin is toxic for bees, birds, and fish and other aquatic organisms, and so, is very harmful to these creatures\u2019 ecosystems and to biodiversity. Imidacloprid shares those characteristics and more: it also harms human health<\/a>, wildlife<\/a>, domestic pets<\/a>, water quality<\/a>, and the environment broadly<\/a>. The fungicide azoxystrobin<\/a> is toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms.<\/p>\r\n

Imidacloprid was the first neonic sold in the U.S. and is the most commonly deployed insecticide globally. Annual agricultural use in the U.S. in 2014 tallied to 2,204,623 pounds. Use of clothianidin, largely on corn crops, rose to 3,747,858 pounds yearly by that same year. Neonics comprise a class of pesticide used intensively in many parts of the world. Though they are applied to plant foliage, or directly to soils as a drench, the dominant use globally is as a\u00a0seed treatment<\/a>. Neonic pesticides are banned or restricted in the\u00a0European Union<\/a>,\u00a0France, Germany, and Italy<\/a>;\u00a0some states have also worked to rein in their use<\/a>, but federal regulation in the U.S. continues to be wholly inadequate<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The study methodology included use of multiple sampling techniques \u2014 both \u201cgrab\u201d sampling and \u201cpassive\u201d sampling (in which the collection unit remains in the water for a period of time) \u2014 in the subject lakes and in inlet streams contributing to them. Multiple sampling periods were conducted. These strategies enabled averaging of concentrations and, therefore, more comprehensive assessments of pesticide concentrations than would have been gotten through \u201csnapshot\u201d or grab sampling alone. The paper notes,<\/a> \u201cConcentrations were then used with runoff volume estimates to calculate the total load of individual pesticides entering the monitored lake during each sampling period.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The study co-authors note that, although low-level concentrations of pesticides are pervasive in both rural-agricultural and urban waterways, recent reports have found pesticides in urban and agricultural lakes, including Midwestern national park lakes (as well as in adjacent groundwater). A 2011 USGS survey found that 61% of agricultural streams and 90% of urban streams had at least one detectable pesticide at levels exceeding aquatic-life benchmarks<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

The findings of the research include<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n