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USGS Fact Sheet 067-97:
Pesticides in Selected Small Streams
in the Puget Sound Basin, 1987-1995


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Future Pesticide Monitoring

These results indicate that pesticides do occur at generally small concentrations not exceeding aquatic life or human health criteria in small streams and streambed sediments within the Puget Sound Basin. Pesticide use and occurrence are greatest in the urban areas of the basin. Additional pesticide monitoring will be required to evaluate trends over time and to assess the occurrence and distribution of currently used and new pesticides. Further pesticide sampling will be conducted by the USGS and Ecology to better evaluate the occurrence of pesticides with respect to land use, seasonal variations, and storm runoff. The USGS Puget Sound Basin National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project will conduct intensive seasonal and storm sampling of two large rivers and two small streams in the basin to achieve the following objectives:

As part of the Washington State Pesticide Monitoring Program, Ecology will continue to assess pesticide contamination in streams throughout the basin, including cooperative sampling efforts with the USGS. The goal of this monitoring program is to characterize pesticides geographically and over time in water, bed sediments, and aquatic organisms, which will provide information to improve pesticide management in the state and ultimately help reduce the risk of pesticide exposure that can result in adverse effects on aquatic organisms and human health.

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Puget Sound Basin NAWQA home page is <http://wa.water.usgs.gov/projects/pugt/>
This page is http:// wa.water.usgs.gov /pubs/fs/fs067/pest.g.html
Last modified: Mon Jun 9 17:25:40 1997
If you have any questions or comments about this document, contact <nawqa_pugt_wa@usgs.gov>.