Abstract
Chlorpyrifos is a common surface water contaminant in California, USA. We evaluated five years of chlorpyrifos use and surface water monitoring data in California’s principal agricultural regions. Imperial County and three central coastal regions accounted for only 10 % of chlorpyrifos statewide use, but displayed consistently high aquatic benchmark exceedances (13.2 %–57.1 %). In contrast, 90 % of use occurred in Central Valley regions where only 0.6 %–6.5 % of samples exceeded aquatic benchmarks. Differences among regions are attributable to crop type, use intensity, irrigation practices and monthly application patterns. Application method did not appear to be a factor.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) (2005) Text of final regulations. Available online via: http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/dormspray/05_004final.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2012
California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) (2012a) Surface Water Protection Program Database. http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/surfwtr/surfdata.htm. Accessed 9 May 2012
California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) (2012b) Pesticide information portal, pesticide use report (PUR) data. Available via CDPR website: http://calpip.cdpr.ca.gov/main.cfm. Accessed 9 May 2012
Corbin M, Daiss R, Judkins DR (2009) Risks of chlorpyrifos use to federally threatened & endangered species. USEPA office of pesticide program. Available online via: http://www.epa.gov/espp/litstatus/effects/redleg-frog/chlorpyrifos/analysis.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2012
Ensminger M, Bergin R, Spurlock F, Goh KS (2011) Pesticide concentrations in water and sediment and associated invertebrate toxicity in Del Puerto and Orestimba Creeks, California, 2007–2008. Environ Monit Assess 175:573–587
Guo L, Nordmark CE, Spurlock FC, Johnson BR, Li L, Lee JM, Goh KS (2004) Characterizing dependence of pesticide load in surface water on precipitation and pesticide use for the Sacramento River watershed. Environ Sci Technol 38:3842–3852
Larson J, Capel PD, Majewski MS (1991) Pesticides in the Hydrologic System. Ann Arbor Press, Inc. Chelsea, MI
Phillips P, Scott WA, Nystrom EA (2007) Temporal changes in surface-water insecticide concentrations after the phaseout of diazinon and chlorpyrifos. Environ Sci Technol 41:4246–4251
Spurlock, F. (2004) Analysis of recent chlorpyrifos use and surface water monitoring data. Memorandum Report California department of pesticide regulation. Environmental Monitoring Branch, Sacramento, California. Available online via: http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/emon/pubs/ehapreps/fnl_chlor_analysis.pdf. Accessed 9 May 2012
U.S. EPA (2012) Office of pesticide program’s aquatic life benchmarks. Available online via: http://www.epa.gov/oppefed1/ecorisk_ders/aquatic_life_benchmark.htm#benchmarks. Accessed 9 May 2012
USDA (2009) USDA natural resources conservation service. Available via NRCS website: http://www.ca.nrcs.usda.gov/features/calwater/. Accessed 9 May 2012
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Kean Goh, Sheryl Gill, David Duncan, John Sanders and Charles Andrews for their support and guidance on the work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhang, X., Starner, K. & Spurlock, F. Analysis of Chlorpyrifos Agricultural Use in Regions of Frequent Surface Water Detections in California, USA. Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 89, 978–984 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-012-0791-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-012-0791-8