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Ground Water Part 2 Steven Pacenka, Cornell Biological and Environmental Engineering for NYS Conservation District Employees' Association 14 March 2008
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Objectives Understand pesticide findings in ground water Understand phosphorus relationship with shallow ground water
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Pesticides
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Pesticides and Ground Water Suffolk County aldicarb (Temik(R)) residues above drinking water standards still with us 30 years after discontinuance Mobility and persistence in environment are keys Registration process reformed in 1980's
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NYS Pesticide Sales and Use Reporting System Commercial use, sales to farmers Annual data since 1997 DEC/Cornell pesticide database, DEC/USGS/Cornell/Suffolk County water monitoring http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/27506.html
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Components of a NYS Drinking Water Pesticide Residue Exposure Assessment
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USGS Surface (Baseflow) Sampling Results
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Counties With Cornell Ground Water Sampling so Far Cortland, Schenectady, Orange, Cayuga (Suffolk County samples Nassau and Suffolk)
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Where to sample? Conjunction: higher pesticide use, higher ground water dependence. Variety of areas based on pesticide use types. County willing to cooperate in recruiting volunteers whose wells to sample.
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All active ingredients (kg/km 2 average 2000-2005)
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Atrazine (kg/km 2 avg 2000-2005)
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Diazinon (kg/km 2 avg 2000-2005)
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Findings No parent compounds of concern in three counties where we have received DEC results ELISA (immunoassay) tests at Cornell more sensitive than DEC lab uses, for targeted compounds. We see low blips. Starting to use kits this year that look for “metabolites” as well as parent compounds.
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Next at this Level Two more counties this year, one more in 2009. (Leaning west.) Residue transport factor in mapping, incorporating different mobility+persistence of different active ingredients. Aquifer vulnerability factor in mapping?
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Pesticide prognosis Long Island continues to be extreme compared to all of upstate; we aren't finding values near to drinking water standards upstate Traces in stream baseflow of popular, mobile compounds like atrazine suggest that shallow ground water contains some residues Wells seem not to be in vulnerable places
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Phosphorus via Ground Water Motivated by eutrophication, not ground water quality Basin models suggest 3,000-5,000 kg/year to Cannonsville Reservoir carried in base flow up to one third of all dissolved phosphorus 10-50 micrograms P/liter in discharging ground water Objective: corroborate or refute.
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Sampling Approach Space: downgradient from representative range of land uses, upland and lowland Time: multiple seasonal cycles
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Sampling Sites: Groundwater About to Discharge to Streams
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Nitrate in ground water near streams
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Phosphorus in ground water near streams
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Phosphorus is Seasonal
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Phosphorus conclusions Phosphorus exists in ground water near streams; don't dismiss this path In one basin, concentrations correlate with land use, except possibly with active farms Be wary of P saturation in overloaded soil Preferential flow paths in soil Septic leach fields next to streams (not “failing” ones)
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References, Contacts, Acknowledgments Pesticides USGS: http://ny.cf.er.usgs.gov/biblio/search_biblio.cfm (Dave Eckhardt) Cornell PMEP: http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/psur/ (Will Smith) Cornell BEE: http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/ (Brian Richards) DEC: http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/27506.html (Luanne Whitbeck) Phosphorus Delaware County Action Plan: http://www.co.delaware.ny.us/departments/h2o/h2o.htm Cornell BEE http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/ (Steve Pacenka)http://soilandwater.bee.cornell.edu/
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