The innocent pyrethroids, perspectives from the bottom of the ag drainage canal

. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hello, gentle readers,

I am writing to announce that I have actually started working in my field, or more precisely, in the canals at the end of the irrigation ditches at the downhill side of my field, and I am thrilled. My job is to sample water to help California growers comply with state and federal regulations regarding nutrient and pesticide loads in their tailwater. I have no skill getting my waders un-stuck from the mud, so I only hope one day to go pro, but this is my big chance, I think.

From a debriefing session at the company headquarters I learned that there are exceedences for two organophosphate pesticides, a family of pesticides effective against many insect pests and very soluble in water. Instead, to protect waterways from further contamination, farmers are switching to more frequent use of pyrethroids, a family of pesticides extracted from the marigold family of plants and effective against a narrower range of pest insects, namely the butterfly and moth family. Pyrethroids were considered safe because they bind to soil well and they break down fairly quickly, but if they do wash down into waterways on sediment particles, they are deadly to aquatic invertebrates, and they need to be used more frequently than their organophosphate predecessors. Is switching to pyrethroids really an improvement? I have my doubts.

Am I glad to be doing something about my passion for public access to environmental quality data? You betcha!

From the ditch,

Your faithful correspondent.