By Peak Johnson

Pesticides are found in drinking water in certain parts of the country, leaving devastating consequences as they are consumed. While restrictions are being drafted for certain pesticides, the challenge is deciding how strictly those restrictions should affect farmers.

In Wisconsin, results from a state laboratory of hygiene found that one family’s water was contaminated with three fertilizers and pesticides, according to MinnPost. Of particular concern was the presence of the weed killer atrazine.

Atrazine is banned in the area where the family, the Reeves, lives and when found, it was at twice the state and federal drinking water health standard, MinnPost reported.

When the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection (DATCP) conducted a follow-up testing of the water they found 8.2 ppb of atrazine.

Atrazine has been one of the most “widely used herbicides in the United States for decades,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. MinnPost reported that the pesticide manufacturer Syngenta advertises the weed killer as “safe for people, good for the environment and the economy.”

However, MinnPost cited a letter from DATCP in which the agency warned that “long-term exposure to atrazine may cause a variety of health problems, including weight loss, heart damage and muscle spasms.”

Atrazine is considered an endocrine disruptor and has been attributed “to abnormal sexual development in animals.” A recent U.S. EPA draft risk assessment found that atrazine is dangerous to a variety of plants and animals both on land and in water.

According to the state Department of Natural Resources, the exact health effects of long-term consumption of water containing pesticides are “not completely understood.” However, the agency has said that exposure “could increase susceptibility to certain diseases, including cancer.”

MinnPost reported that the EPA is contemplating “further federal restrictions on atrazine, but has received strong opposition from agricultural groups,” including some in Wisconsin.

According to MinnPost, DATCP released its most recent comprehensive survey of pesticides in groundwater in 2007. Of 398 private wells, 33.5 percent had “detectable levels of a pesticide or a pesticide metabolite, which is formed when the active ingredient or ‘parent’ chemical breaks down as it penetrates soil.”

During that time, the agency tested for 32 active ingredients. DATCP is now updating the study and testing for 98 ingredients, MinnPost reported.

The EPA is considering additional restrictions on atrazine, which is undergoing a 15-year review, according to MinnPost.

The EPA is recommending a maximum of 3.4 ppb of atrazine in surface water to protect plant and animal life, “compared to the current level of concern of 10 ppb; opponents cite research that has found 25 ppb and higher to be safe.”

For similar stories visit Water Online Source Water Contamination Solutions Center.