Ground zero has somehow slipped away. There is no evidence
of widespread pesticide contamination in Hawai`i’s surface waters, according to
a thorough federal study of water resources on two islands.
That confirms similar results in separate tests from 2014 and 2016.
It would seem that HAPA, SHAKA, the Center or Food Safety can
fold up their tents and go home. Their work is done. If the claims of rampant agricultural pesticide misuse were ever true, they are not true now.
The U.S. Geological Survey conducted 7,200 water tests in
2016 and 2017—one of the broadest scientific investigations ever into allegations
of pesticide misuse in the Hawaiian Islands. There were 12 surface water test
sites on Kaua`i and 19 on O`ahu.
Here is the state Department of Agriculture public release
on USGS testing of water samples at 31 sites on Oahu and Kaua`i, for 225
different pesticides.
“The sites included streams, ditches, canals, and a wetland–
and were near or downstream of agricultural areas, developed areas, or both,”
the study said. Here is the study itself.
The short version: The laboratory tests were able to detect pesticides, but
all at levels below federally and state levels of concern.
Bizarrely, while the last decade of allegations of pesticide
misuse have gained widespread publicity across the state, the proof that those
claims were unfounded has slipped almost entirely under the radar.
The state’s news media allocated pages upon pages of newsprint
and web content to pesticide contamination allegations, but almost nothing to
the actual scientific proof that these claims were were overblown.
The Garden Island
newspaper on Kaua`i, dismissed the study in a brief (9 paragraph) story. Honolulu-based media have had nothing to date.
The new USGS study is now being repeated on O`ahu and Kaua`i, and is
also being expanded to Maui and Hawai`i counties.
“This multi-year surface water study goes a long way towards
assuring the citizenry of Hawaii that pesticides are continuing to be used
properly,” said Scott Enright, chair of the Hawaii State Department of
Agriculture.
The surface water study is not an outlier. It confirms the
conclusions of several previous studies.
It supports information by a groundwater study by an independent
California laboratory for the Kaua`i Department of Water Supply in 2016, which found
no pesticide levels of concern in groundwater from several Kaua`i agricultural
sites. Here is the RaisingIslands coverage of that study.
That study confirms annual testing by the island’s Water Department
of all its drinking water sources. Those tests can be seen here.
A statewide surface water testing effort in 2014 had results
along the same lines. Here is Honolulu Civil Beat’s piece on that statewide program,
which found that most pesticide concerns were in urban streams, and not in
agricultural areas.
As noted above, the new USGS study did not fail to find
pesticides, but where it found them they were at exceedingly low levels. Here
are some of the notable findings, from the state Department of Agriculture
release, including what is being done about those pesticides:
“Chlorpyrifos was detected in two Honouliuli stream samples
collected during the same high-flow storm event. The highest concentration of
23.3 ng/l is below the state water quality standard of 83 ng/l and the
strictest acute benchmark of 50 ng/l for the protection of freshwater
invertebrates. HDOA is currently in the process of restricting the use of
chlorpyrifos by reclassifying it to a restricted-use pesticide (RUP) which will
allow its use by only state-certified applicators. The proposed restrictions will
mirror what California has done and includes required buffer zone. These rules
are anticipated to be finalized by this summer.
“Concentrations of flubendiamide in high-flow samples
collected at two sites on Oahu exceeded the lowest Federal aquatic-life benchmark.
Flubendiamide is an insecticide that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) is currently in the process of cancelling its use due to the risk to
aquatic invertebrates and aquatic environments.
“Atrazine, an herbicide and established groundwater
contaminant, and an RUP was detected in low-flow samples at three sites, at
concentrations more than 100 times lower than the EPA maximum contaminant level
for drinking water and the strictest aquatic life benchmarks. This represents a
significant drop compared to the 75 percent detection rate in a 2013-14 study.
The decline likely reflects the decrease in current atrazine applications and
sales statewide after 2015, during the time that saw the closure of a large
sugarcane plantation.
“Bromacil is an herbicide and established groundwater
contaminant used almost exclusively on pineapple in Hawaii. Bromocil was
detected in two areas, one of which is known to have grown pineapple.”
All but one of the samples identified at least one pesticide
compound. A total of 61 different pesticides were identified across the two
islands. The most commonly identified pesticide was Atrazine—either directly or
from a compound that Atrazine degrades into.
Atrazine is a long-lived herbicide that was commonly used in
the sugar industry, but is still used to control broadleaf weeds in agriculture
today. It is the agricultural chemical most widely detected in water samples
across the nation.
© Jan TenBruggencate 2018
4 comments:
How do we get this info out to the general public? The message of "pesticides in water" is easily understood and spread. The more-nuanced version of "acceptable levels" isn't always well-received by those who don't or won't understand science.
Wonder if any of the activists will re-examine their beliefs and seek out these studies upon learning about Russia’s role in creating and inserting anti-gmo propaganda in our media?
It would really help if the media would actually cover the story. But fear sells, whereas reassurance does not.
The anti-science lobby will ignore or condemn this study because it doesn’t fit their narrative. They are too far down the rabbit hole of deceit to reverse direction now.
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