During the 30-year effort to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, pesticides and other toxic chemicals have ranked low on the list of problems.
For years, the priority has been reducing nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment from wastewater treatment plants, and runoff from farms and city streets and construction sites. But pesticides and their hazardous cousins, endocrine disruptors, remained poorly understood and not well-regulated.
New information has pushed for more action on the insecticides, herbicides and other chemicals that gardeners and farmers spray on crops and that are sometimes embedded in seeds even before they’re planted.
A recent U.S. Geological Survey study, “Pesticides in U.S. Streams and Rivers: Occurrence and Trends During 1992-2011,” found that half a billion pounds of pesticides are used annually in the United States. Urban streams are particularly susceptible.
The researchers have monitored the streams over the last two decades. They found pesticides at levels that could harm aquatic life twice as frequently during the period of 2002–11 than during the preceding decade.
“Five or six decades after “Silent Spring,” (Rachel Carson’s book that brought to public attention the toll DDT and other pesticides were taking on birds and other living things), we still have these issues in our lives,” said David Love, a microbiologist with the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
Scientists are still investigating the hazards of chemicals on the flora and fauna of the Chesapeake Bay.
“These pesticides are deliberately manufactured to kill things,” said Melissa Perry, chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at The George Washington University. “By their very nature, they are biologically active.”
Several Maryland policy-makers decided they had to attack the pesticide problem. There was no mention of pesticides or toxics in early drafts of the new Chesapeake Watershed Bay Agreement, a document that would guide the Bay states’ restoration programs. Those concerned about pesticides set about making sure policy-makers included these topics. Through a campaign called Smart on Pesticides, the Maryland Pesticide Network and several other public-health organizations called on federal and state officials to include an emphasis on reducing the harmful effects of pesticides.
“It was not an easy accomplishment,” said Greg Allen, a scientist with the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program Office. “It is a good news story. There was a time when it looked like [toxics and pesticides] wouldn’t be mentioned.”
By Rona Kobell
Bay Journal News Service
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