Pesticides in U.S. Drinking Water

Joni Mitchell sang about it in the sixties, so it’s not like the issue of pesticides is anything new where U.S. public health is concerned. There are very genuinely lots of pests that can damage crop production and throw a spanner in the works of the nation’s food supply.In fact, some are deemed as necessary.

Nevertheless, there are many harmful pesticides that are still, after decades of campaigning, heavily present in the food we eat. But more alarming than even this, they find their way into the water all of us drink. But how bad is the problem really?

Synergy Science, a company specializing in alternative water products, say thatwhatever the reality may be, the public is certainly worried about pesticides. This accounts for the popularity of products like diatomic hydrogen water, filtered water, distilled water,and various home water filtration systems.

There is no doubt that this concern is certainly well-founded. Pesticides are, unfortunately, present in the water we drink, and they can indeed be dangerous to our long-term health. However, too much alarmism here can be counter intuitive. Therefore, it is important to know precisely what the dangers are and what can be done about it.

What Are Pesticides?

Getting some definitions out of the way is certainly a good place to start. Pesticides are defined by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences as “any substance used to kill, repel or control certain forms of plant or animal life”. As you can probably tell, this is a pretty broad definition, but it more or less conforms to the simple idea of “anything that kills pests”, the Latin suffix “cide” meaning “killer”.

With such a broad definition then, pesticides can vary a lot depending on what they are killing and how they are killing it. There are even natural pesticides and pesticides that are not harmful at all. There are even green initiatives in agriculture, such as introducing ladybugs to eat aphids. This is nothing but nature itself, and yet it is the “control” or killing of a pest – so the ladybugs are in this case technically a pesticide.

Of course, nobody is worried about ladybugs.When we talk of concerns about pesticides, we are always referring to the toxic chemicals they contain making it into the food we eat – and the water we drink.

Pesticide Use in America

So, how many harmful pesticidesare used in agriculture in America? As it happens, quite a lot. It is estimated that one billion pounds of pesticide chemicals are used every year; it is inevitable that many of these make it into the water supply.

Pesticides make it intothe water supply simply because farming needs water, and a lot of it. The same crops that are treated with pesticide sprays are also watered. This pesticide-containing water then either seeps into the ground or runs off the farming location into water supplies.

The most harmful pesticides that make it into our water in this wayinclude:

• Agricultural herbicides such as atrazine metolachlor and cyanazine
• Non-agricultural herbicides such as prometon, tebuthiorin, and 2,4-d
• Insecticides such as diazine, chlorpyrifos, and carbaryl.

Undoubtedly, then, America has a drinking water pesticide problem.

Alternatives

So, what you can do about it? Water filtration systems for the home are probably the obvious choice here. However, you can also invest in alternative waters that have not only been cleared of such contaminants, but which actively offer additional health benefits. Such is what drives the market for products like hydrogen water and filtered water.

Whatever alternative you choose, the sad fact is that it could very well be a necessity.