Innovative
Outreach Strategies to Reduce Pesticide Runoff
Presentation
1: Diazinon and Pesticide-Related Toxicity in Bay Area Urban Creeks:
TMDL Strategy
Bill Johnson
San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
Pesticide-related aquatic toxicity
impairs urban creeks throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. A common organophosphorus
pesticide, diazinon, causes most of the toxicity. The San Francisco Bay
Regional Water Quality Control Board recently completed a Preliminary
Project Report that compiles the results of its efforts to address pesticide-related
toxicity in urban creeks. The report is part of a Total Maximum Daily
Load (TMDL) process intended to attain water quality standards and protect
beneficial uses of the Bay Area's urban creeks.
About 85 tons of diazinon are
applied each year in the Bay Area. About 27% of this diazinon is used
for structural pest control. Such treatments involve applying diazinon
to impervious surfaces around building perimeters, where it breaks down
relatively slowly and is vulnerable to runoff. About 50% of the Bay Area's
diazinon use is sold over the counter to private citizens. This large
fraction is subject to relatively little regulatory oversight.
U.S. EPA is phasing out most
urban diazinon uses by the end of 2004, but replacement products pose
new water quality risks. The proposed TMDL implementation strategy involves:
(1) agency cooperation to close
regulatory gaps that allow pesticides to be applied such that they result
in discharges that exceed water quality standards,
(2) targeted education and outreach programs that encourage major pesticide
dischargers (e.g., structural pest control operators and residential consumers)
to adopt less toxic pest control strategies, and
(3) monitoring to track implementation and demonstrate water quality I
Presentation 2: Pest Control Operator IPM Alliance
Bart Brandenburg
Consultant
Bart Brandenburg will describe
the "Pesticide Control Operator IPM Alliance," a group of pest
control professionals dedicated to understanding the barriers professionals
face in adopting IPM, and to proposing solutions that overcome those barriers.
Pest Control Operators apply pesticides to impervious surfaces, where
the potential for runoff is great. The efforts of the Alliance will reduce
applications of pesticides that threaten water quality. BART will also
describe what Pest Control Operators around the nation think of IPM by
providing an update from the National Pest Management Association conference
in Orlando (October 16 to 19).
Presentation
3: Pesticide Distribution Program
Gina Purin,
Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program
Annie Joseph, consultant
The Our Water Our World (OWOW
) project began in 1997 with employees from nursery and hardware stores
being trained on less toxic pest management. The training was complemented
by a list of products that stores could carry as well as fact sheets for
distribution to customers and shelf talkers that easily identify alternative
products on store shelves.
While the OWOW program still works with nursery and hardware stores, the
Pesticide Distributor Program primarily works with the sales agents of
the distribution companies,who sell products to the stores. It is these
agents who make product recommendations to store managers and buyers.
In educating the sales agents about the efficacy of less toxic products,
they can better promote such products to their customers (i.e. the nursery
and hardware stores); and, they can support the stores in creating more
shelf space for such products.
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