Pesticides and groundwater in the State of Washington Available to Purchase

Pesticides have been detected in groundwater in many areas of the State of Washington over recent years. Laws and regulations of federal and state environmental protection and argicultural agencies have developed in response to concern over the public health risk to pesticide exposure. Prevalent views about health risk from pesticide exposure tend to emphasize either the economics and food availability, while downplaying risk of pesticide exposure, or the risk to people, while downplaying economic and food availability issues. The Aquifer Vulnerability Project of the Washington State Department of Ecology is using the Environmental Agency’s PATRIOT model to screen the State of Washington for susceptibility to pesticide leaching to groundwater. PATRIOT models the pesticide loading at the top of the water table when the user selects parameters to run in the model, including the crop and the pesticide.