Topics: Agricultural Chemicals

One focus of the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program is to investigate the occurrence and fate of agricultural chemicals in the environment from pesticides, fertilizers, veterinary medicines, and other sources. A wide variety of Toxics Program investigations study the fate of agricultural chemicals either directly or indirectly. Toxics Program agricultural chemical investigations focus on:

• Characterizing the processes that affect the dispersal of chemicals in the atmosphere, ground water, and surface water
• Discovering the processes that control the fate of nutrients in the environment
• Identifying persistent pesticide degradation products
• Developing methods to measure these compounds in water samples at environmentally relevant concentrations
• Assessing the impact of hypoxia, eutrophication, and other processes on water bodies receiving drainage from agriculturally dominated watersheds

Results of these investigations are used by government regulators, pesticide manufacturers, farmers, water resource managers, and the public to set sound policy on the use of agricultural chemicals. The information presented on this page cuts across lines drawn by individual investigations and projects so that the information on the fate of agricultural chemicals can be presented in one place.

Investigations and Research Activities

Fact Sheets

USGS technicians collecting water samples from a bridge for a reconnaissance of herbicide concentrations in streams.