Report cites atrazine as public health issue across Iowa, United States

The common agricultural herbicide atrazine has contaminated watersheds and drinking water throughout Iowa and most of the nation, according to a report issued Monday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The report's authors say the Environmental Protection Agency is ignoring high atrazine concentrations in public water systems.

The EPA atrazine standard for drinking water, 3 parts per billion, is based on a running average and does not take into account seasonal spikes, which can exceed 10 parts per billion, said Andrew Wetzler, director of the non-profit environmental group's Wildlife Conservation Program and one of the report's authors.

Wetzler said the report brings together for the first time EPA data from watershed monitoring and drinking water compliance programs.

The study included data from two Iowa watersheds - the Nishnabotna River in western Iowa and Wolf Creek, a Cedar River tributary that drains portions of Black Hawk and Grundy counties. It also included data from 12 southern Iowa public water systems.

Maximum atrazine levels in Wolf Creek exceeded 10 parts per billion in samples collected earlier this decade, according to the report.

The highest concentration of atrazine in raw water, 47.5 parts per billion, was found at the Winterset municipal plant, and the highest concentration in treated water, 3.14 parts per billion, was found at the Centerville municipal plant, the report said.

Registered in the United States in 1958, atrazine is the most commonly detected herbicide in U.S. waters. An endocrine disrupter that affects human and animal hormones, it has been linked to poor sperm quality in humans and hermaphroditic amphibians, Wetzler said. Its use was banned in the European Union in 2004.

Contamination was most severe in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and Nebraska, according to the study.

For the full report, go to www.nrdc.org/health/atrazine