Growers’ reactions to the updated waiver, especially the 2010 Draft Order, were diverse and abundant. Interestingly, many farmers and agricultural stakeholders highlighted their disappointment in how the negotiations were handled above all else, emphasizing the process itself more than individual mandates. A letter from the Santa Barbara Farm Bureau lamented the new approach, stating that its members supported the 2004 Ag Waiver because it “focused on collaboration” and was “based on a good faith effort from both the agricultural community as well as [the Regional] Board,” however, they were “extremely disappointed” by the stakeholder participation process for the updated waiver, calling it a “failed” attempt due to staff members’ “reluctance to collaborate”. Another stakeholder organization, the Salinas River Channel Coalition , shared similar sentiments: “The SRCC have been involved for many years with water quality solutions in the Central Coast. The first Ag Waiver process was about improvement of water quality, but this current process has become nothing more than regulation to develop fines and fees.” The SRCC also added that the new Regional Board staff did not show they wanted to understand the agricultural industry, nor did they have “a desire to continue the proactive cooperation and educational approach which was used to develop the last Agricultural Waiver”. While the Clean Water Act has achieved significant results in water quality standards,procona florida container and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act endeavors to prevent chemicals from causing unreasonable harm to the environment and human health, pesticides continue to contaminate America’s waters.
In California’s Central Coast, two pesticides in particular have been identified as the primary sources of water column toxicity and targeted for regulation. Because agricultural operations in the Central Coast have historically relied on diazinon and chlorpyrifos for use on several crops, the region has been a testing ground for important research on the effects of these two organophosphate pesticides. Impacts of chlorpyrifos and diazinon on regional ambient and sediment toxicity are well-documented in the literature . However, less researched have been the policy implications of their use and discharge into waterbodies. This chapter fills several critical gaps. Identifying challenges and successes of applied pesticide control policy offers valuable information and recommendations to water quality regulatory agencies charged with controlling agricultural pollution in the region and beyond. Several studies have reviewed policy tools aimed at agricultural non-point source pollution , including a comprehensive policy analysis specific to California’s Central Coast region , yet even the authors of that study cite a dearth of case studies of implemented policy approaches. This case study analyzes several specific pesticide-related provisions of the 2012 Agricultural Waiver. Of particular interest is why and how two pesticides—chlorpyrifos and diazinon—rose to the top of the policy agenda during the recent regulatory process over a long list of other chemicals used in the region, and what intended and unintended consequences have resulted from this regulatory spotlighting. This study utilizes a blend of historical and social scientific methods to comprehensively evaluate rich datasets relevant to issues of agricultural pesticide use, pollution, chemical switching and environmental governance.
Integrating information from policy documents, meeting minutes, interviews, survey responses, water quality data, monitoring and enforcement data, organic crop production data, and Pesticide Use Records from County Agricultural Commissioner offices and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation, this chapter advances the conversations on pesticide and water quality policy at the regional level and offers insights into larger systemic issues of regulatory spotlighting a limited number of pesticides.Chlorpyrifos and diazinon are both broad-spectrum organophosphate insecticides used throughout the U.S. and California for the control of invertebrate pests . Historically, both were widely applied for home pest control. But in 2000, due to mounting evidence of human health risks, the U.S. Consequently, the overall use of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in California urban areas has dramatically declined , and both pesticides are now used almost exclusively for agricultural pest control. In the Central Coast region, chlorpyrifos is primarily used on broccoli and cauliflower to control soil maggots and on wine grapes to target vine mealybug and ants. From 2006 to 2010, the Salinas Valley, Imperial Valley, Santa Maria Valley and Pajaro Valley regions used only 10% of statewide chlorpyrifos, but they had the highest frequencies of chlorpyrifos detections and exceedances . All of these regions except the Imperial Valley are located within the Central Coast. Diazinon is predominantly applied to head lettuce, leaf lettuce and spinach to kill a variety of insect pests, including green peach aphid , potato aphid , pea leafminer seed corn maggot , spring tails and cutworms . In 2001, diazinon was one of the only registered options for these pests . Diazinon use in the Salinas Valley, “the salad bowl of the world,” nearly tripled from 1997 to 2004 , before it began its steady decline. Seasonal use of chlorpyrifos and diazinon fluctuates with the cropping cycles . Because two or three vegetable crops per growing season are common in the region for brassicas and leafy greens, chlorpyrifos and diazinion use often peaks several times a year.
Between 2011 and 2014, over 20 waterbodies in the Central Coast Region were listed as impaired for chlorpyrifos and/or diazinon and/or unknown toxicity. These water bodies included the Lower Salinas River Watershed and several more in the Pajaro River Watershed and Santa Maria River Watershed . While the use and target species vary between chlorpyrifos and diazinon, the mechanisms of toxicity and associated risks of organophosphates are similar. Several studies suggest that even low-level contact with these neurotoxicants can have serious health implications. The EPA determined that the amount of chlorpyrifos and diazinon that can be consumed in drinking water at which no adverse health impacts would occur for adults is 0.02 mg/L and 0.0006 mg/L and respectively. Exposure has been associated with neurobehavioral deficiencies, including attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in children . A study conducted in the Salinas Valley of Latina mothers and newborns found that exposure to the pesticides in utero can cause serious health effects to babies, whom are less able to detoxifyorganophosphates . Another recent study links exposure of organophosphates to lung damage in children . Despite the long list of serious human and environmental health implications posed by diazinon and chlopyrifos, one advantage of using these pesticides over others is their relatively shorter half-lives. The half-life of chlorpyrifos and diazinon in the water column ranges from 30-138 days depending on field conditions .In the U.S., a number of major federal and state laws govern pesticides. The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act was passed in 1947 with the original goal of protecting consumers from ineffective products. Through a series of amendments, the Act’s function has evolved to include protecting human health and the environment from unreasonable adverse effects of pesticides. One such amendment that fundamentally changed EPA’s regulation of pesticides towards a health-based focus was the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act . The FQPA was the first to mandate the evaluation of a pesticide’s sensitivity to children, procona London container infants and fetuses as well as the aggregate risk of multiple exposures. Since its passage, the EPA has taken action under the FQPA targeting chlorpyrifos and diazinon for review due to their potential risk to children. Between 2000-2004, the Agency reviewed the two pesticides through a comprehensive Interim Registration Eligibility Decision and Registration Eligibility Decision . During the review, an agreement was made with the technical registrants of chlorpyrifos and diazinon to terminate the registration and begin a phase out for nearly all residential uses of both chemicals. As an extra measure to mitigate health risks, the EPA also required that all use of chlorpyrifos products be discontinued on tomatoes, and restricted its use on apples, citrus and tree nuts. The diazinon RED required more extensive mitigation measures for diazinon use on agricultural crops, including canceling or restricting agricultural uses for more than 20 crops, eliminating all aerial application except for lettuce crops, and limited overall use of the chemical. The agreement also began the process of developing special dormant spray label restrictions for diazinon and chlorpyrifos products. By 2006, product labels were amended to include restricted use during the rainy season, increasing buffer zones, prohibiting certain applications, requiring recommendations from pest control advisors and mandating certain best management practices. In 2012, after initiating a new registration review of chlorpyrifos, the EPA expanded the size of required buffers around sensitive sites, like schools.
Chlorpyrifos and diazinon are also regulated under several sections of the 1972 U.S. Clean Water Act . Water monitoring data collected during the IRED review process highlighted areas where more regulation was needed and where efforts to curb water pollution were already underway. Based on the detection of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in effluent from publically owned treatment facilities, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permits were amended to include more monitoring and in many cases effluent restrictions. Many states had already begun listing water bodies impaired by chlorpyrifos and diazinon, and begun the process of setting Total Maximum Daily Loads for these waters. In California’s Central Coast, over 20 water bodies have been listed as impaired by chlorpyrifos and/or diazinon: the Pajaro River, Pajaro River Estuary, Llagas Creek, Santa Maria Watershed, Lower Salinas River, Arroyo Paredon, Moss Landing Harbor, Old Salinas River, Tembladero Slough, Blanco Drain, Salinas Reclamation Canal, Espinosa Lake, Chualar Creek, Quail Creek, Espinosa Slough, Alisal Slough, Natividad Creek, San Lorenzo River, Zayante Creek, Arana Gulch, Branciforte Creek, and San Antonio Creek. Additionally, the review process brought attention to several cases of toxic amounts of diazinon and chlorpyrifos in drinking water, forcing regulators to take action under the CWA and Safe Water Drinking Act. The two pesticides have also been identified as impacting several endangered species: California’s red-legged frog, Pacific salmon and steel head species, the Delta smelt and tidewater goby. Under the Endangered Species Act, the EPA has assessed the risks of the chemicals on each of these species and mandated specific practices for their protection. Mandates have included designating critical habitats, vegetative buffers, no spray zones, wind speed restrictions and fish mortality incident reporting requirements. In addition to federal laws, states may also have their own pesticide and water quality regulation programs. For example, in California, the 1969 Porter-Cologne Act gave all nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards broad authority to grant waste discharge requirements for all dischargers in their jurisdiction, as well as the authority to waive those requirements. However, in 1999, with evidence of increased water pollution, the state repealed the Regional Board’s authority to issue waivers, requiring them to, at the very least, attach conditions to waivers and to review these conditions every five years . To comply, each Regional Board has issued individual “Conditional Waivers of Waste Discharge Requirements” . In some cases, like in California’s Central Coast, a Conditional Waiver can act as the primary means for achieving TMDL requirements, raising important policy implications since Waivers have not historically allocated numeric loads to dischargers. California is the only state in the country where a permit and license are needed to apply pesticides. County Agricultural Commissioner offices collect the licensing information and pesticide use records and report these data to the state regulatory agency, the California Department of Pesticide Regulation . In addition to collecting information, the CDPR, as authorized by the California’s Food and Agricultural Code, has the power to reduce pesticide use. In 2015, the CDPR exercised that authority, restricting agricultural uses of chlorpyrifos by requiring applicators to obtain an additional permit from their County Agricultural Commissioner’s office. Yet another means of restricting pesticides is through litigation. For example, in 2015, in response to a lawsuit filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Pesticide Action Network and the Natural Resource Defense Council , the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the U.S. EPA to file status reports on chlorpyrifos. As discussed in previous chapters, two Conditional Agricultural Waivers have been adopted in the Central Coast Region—one in 2004 and an updated version eight years later, on March 15, 2012. In addition to controlling farm discharges from entering waterbodies, one of the major goals of the Agricultural Waiver is to collect monitoring data. Water quality data are not only used to assess the state of the regions’ waters, but also to assess and select appropriate BMPs, help characterize agricultural pollution problems, and identify pollution hotspots. In the 2012 Ag Waiver, BMP and monitoring requirements vary by tier .