Water Contamination Due to Pesticides, Research Paper Example

Introduction

Water contamination by chemicals is a serious environmental problem because of the length of time chemicals take to neutralise underground.  This is particularly true of pesticides. The ground water in the USA is used by around 50% of the population. The danger is that potential cacogenic and other toxin materials contaminate both the water supply and agricultural produce that uses the contaminated water for irrigation purposes.  (Perlman, H. 2011)

Pesticides get into the drinking water mainly in agricultural areas where there is a run off of rainwater from crops that have been sprayed with chemicals.  It is estimated that a high proportion of US Citizens live in rural agricultural areas and as such rely upon clean groundwater as a source for drinking water.  In the United States it has been estimated that over 500,000 tons of 600 different types of pesticides are released into the water system and this having a clean up cost of around $4.1 billion each year.  Despite these alarming facts the widespread use of pesticides continues in the agricultural community.  (David Pimentel, 1992).

Dealing With Water Contamination

The main health hazards have been the result of pathogenic organisms, together with a toxic chemical composition that works on pollution of the groundwater. It has proved difficult to prove the extent of the damage in a country as large as the USA but statistics have been able to record and verify the frequency and number of known incidents of contamination.  The cost of cleaning up aquifers after a contamination has taken place proves to be extremely expensive and often the logistics make the operation extremely difficult.  The legal position on this can equally prove very complex in terms to interpret and administer. Farmers interviewed in the USA, under a basic agricultural survey, indicated that they had less concern for environmental conditions and were more focused on the pesticides doing their job and killing off the desired pests that may destroy their crops and potential livelihood. This is the strong argument for organic farming and not using pesticides but turning to natural means of safeguarding crops. A recent example of a widespread scare in food contamination was that of the E-Coli outbreak in Germany resulting in the panic destruction of crops in both Spain and the Netherlands, this subsequently resulting in the EU having to pay out large compensation sums to the farmers in both nations.

In the UK the situation of pesticide control and the release into groundwater has improved because of EU regulations that have become more stringent in this area.  The graph to the right illustrates a decline from 1994 through to 1996 with a marginal increase in 1997.

New Types of Pesticides

One of the main concerns since the 1960’s is the amount of new chemical pesticides that have been introduced to the agricultural market place.  This lethal cocktail of chemicals is relatively unknown in terms of the potential damage that it may cause to our water environmental system.  We are producing new types of insecticides based upon the natural compound pyrethrum which includes such chemicals as resmethrin, deltamethryn, tetramethrin, fenvalerate etc.  These all being extensively used in agricultural products. Farmers cannot be expected to know the biological composition and dangers of the chemicals so they are opening a Pandora’s Box.

Works Cited

David Pimentel, H. A. (1992). Environmental and Economic Costs of Pesticide Use. BioScience, vol 42 No10, pp. 750-760 .

Perlman, H. (2011). Pesticides in Groundwater. Retrieved 6 8, 2011, from US Dept of the Interior: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/pesticidesgw.html