New Limit on Pesticide in Drinking Water?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing how much of a commonly used pesticide it will allow in drinking water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Transcript

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing how much of a commonly used
pesticide it will allow in drinking water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham
reports:


Atrazine is one of the most commonly used pesticides in the nation. It’s found in trace
amounts in water, just about everywhere. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
has measured Atrazine levels in rainfall that exceeded the current drinking water standards. A
recent study indicated that Atrazine was causing male frogs to develop female characteristics at
even lower levels than the drinking water standard allows. Now the Environmental Protection
Agency is doing its own review of Atrazine’s environmental impacts. Dave Deegan is with the
EPA. He says that review has to be completed before the agency can determine whether drinking
water standards should change.


“At this point, really, it’s too early to know what direction that would take or how long that would
take or what the outcome would be.”


It will be late this year before the EPA Office of Water begins to study whether it should loosen,
further restrict, or leave the drinking water standards for Atrazine where they are.

For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.