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Ground Water Part 2

Steven Pacenka, Cornell Biological and Environmental Engineering for NYS Conservation District Employees' Association 14 March 2008. Ground Water Part 2. Objectives. Understand pesticide findings in ground water Understand phosphorus relationship with shallow ground water. Pesticides.

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Ground Water Part 2

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  1. Steven Pacenka, Cornell Biological and Environmental Engineering for NYS Conservation District Employees' Association 14 March 2008 Ground Water Part 2

  2. Objectives • Understand pesticide findings in ground water • Understand phosphorus relationship with shallow ground water

  3. Pesticides

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Components of a NYS Drinking Water Pesticide Residue Exposure Assessment

  7. USGS Surface (Baseflow) Sampling Results

  8. Counties With Cornell Ground Water Sampling so Far Cortland, Schenectady, Orange, Cayuga (Suffolk County samples Nassau and Suffolk)‏

  9. 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.

  10. All active ingredients (kg/km2 average 2000-2005)‏

  11. Atrazine (kg/km2 avg 2000-2005)‏

  12. Diazinon (kg/km2 avg 2000-2005)‏

  13. 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.

  14. 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?

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. Sampling Approach • Space: downgradient from representative range of land uses, upland and lowland • Time: multiple seasonal cycles

  18. Sampling Sites: Groundwater About to Discharge to Streams

  19. Nitrate in ground water near streams

  20. Phosphorus in ground water near streams

  21. Phosphorus is Seasonal

  22. 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)‏

  23. 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)‏

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