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Pesticide Runoff

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Algaecides, Biopesticides, Biocides, Fungicides, Herbicides, Insecticides, and Matricides. There are hundreds of names for all these American-made chemicals. Most of them are good for plants but most of them are bad for humans and animals. Scientists are conducting tests and studying these harmful chemicals because of concern of pesticides getting into our main water systems.

Some of the problems with chemicals getting into our water systems are that the soil can only hold so much liquid, the rest of the chemicals run off into our streams and creeks. Another way that they can get around is that if a pesticide gets sprayed in warmer weather it can evaporate into the air and away from the initial application site, which is called Volatilization. Spray drift is another way that pesticides get from one place to another. It happens by if a field happens to be sprayed and some of it can become airborne and move away from the application site. It is affected by the size of the droplets, which smaller droplets can get carried away faster that the larger droplets, the distance between the spray nozzle and the ground can really affect the drifting also. Even wind can affect the spraying of pesticides.

Runoff is the worst of them all. It is the movement of pesticides into a water source. They can either mix with the water and get into the water systems or end up eroding our soil. Pesticide runoff can depend on the slope, the texture of the soil, the soil moisture content, amount and timing of rain, and the type of pesticide used in the process. The runoff from pesticides can pollute streams, ponds, lakes, wells, and rivers. Over polluting a water source with these pesticides can cause death of vegetat...

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...n it done all around southern Illinois.

Most of these techniques do the job for the most part but there are still pesticides that get away from the fields that our technology has yet to stop. If most of these techniques were used though, then we would save millions of animals in our wildlife and it would help us be able to know that the water we drink is safe drinking water and the food we eat is safe also.

Works Cited

“Chemicals appearing in groundwater.” EPA. 15 Apr. 2014. EPA,inc. 2012-2014. Web

“Chemical pros and cons.” yahooanswers. 28 April 2014. Yahoo!. 2012-2014. Web

“Environmental impact of pesticides.” Ask. 15 Apr. 2014. Ask Blog, 2013-2014. Web

“Environmental fate of pesticides.” agfbc/pesticides. 14 Apr. 2014, AGF, inc. 2013-2014. Web

“What happens to pesticides.”IllinoisAg. 13 Apr. 2014. Illinois Ag, inc. 2012-2014. Web
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