Fate and Transport of Pesticides in the Ground Water Systems of Southwest Georgia, 1993–2005

Modern agricultural practices in the United States have resulted in nearly unrivaled efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, there is also the potential for release of these compounds to the environment and consequent adverse affects on wildlife and human populations. Since 1993, the National Wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental quality 2008-09, Vol.37 (S5), p.S-264-S-272
Main Authors: Dalton, Melinda S., Frick, Elizabeth A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural practices
Agriculture - trends
Alachlor
Aquatic life
Aquifers
Atrazine
Coastal plains
Data collection
Fresh Water - analysis
Genetically altered foods
Geography
Geological surveys
Georgia
Groundwater
Herbicides
Human populations
Pesticides
Pesticides - analysis
Surface water
Water Movements
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollution - statistics & numerical data
Water quality
Water shortages
Water Supply - standards
Wells
Wildlife
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Summary:Modern agricultural practices in the United States have resulted in nearly unrivaled efficiency and productivity. Unfortunately, there is also the potential for release of these compounds to the environment and consequent adverse affects on wildlife and human populations. Since 1993, the National Water‐Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program of the U.S. Geological Survey has evaluated water quality in agricultural areas to address these concerns. The objective of this study is to evaluate trends in pesticide concentrations from 1993–2005 in the surficial and Upper Floridan aquifers of southwest Georgia using pesticide and pesticide degradate data collected for the NAWQA program. There were six compounds—five herbicides and one degradate—that were detected in more than 20% of samples: atrazine, deethylatrazine (DEA), metolachlor, alachlor, floumeturon, and tebuthiuron. Of the 128 wells sampled during the study, only eight wells had pesticide concentrations that either increased (7) or decreased (1) on a decadal time scale. Most of the significant trends were increasing concentrations of pesticides in older water; median pesticide concentrations did not differ between the surficial and Upper Floridan aquifers from 1993 and 2005. Deethylatrazine, in the Upper Floridan aquifer, was the only compound that had a significant change (increase) in concentration during the study. The limited number of wells with increases in pesticide concentrations suggest that ground‐water sources of these compounds are not increasing in concentration over the time scale represented in this study.
ISSN:0047-2425
1537-2537
DOI:10.2134/jeq2007.0163