Water News from Near & Far

The Lake Champlain Committee (LCC) collaborated with environmental organizations across the state of Vermont—including Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, Audubon Vermont, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Public Interest Research Group, Vermont Natural Resources Council, and the Vermont chapter of the Sierra Club—to oppose new state regulations on pesticides. The State hadn’t revised its requirements for pesticide storage, application, and reporting for over 30 years but the adopted changes fall far short of what is needed in the face of climate change and species decline. The updated regs fail to provide protections for wild bee populations or to address the use of seeds pretreated with pesticide which comprise the majority of seeds planted in the state. They ignore the severity of the health hazard that pesticides pose to the environment as well as to individuals. When pesticides enter waterways, the chemicals can leach into drinking water supplies and can stunt aquatic life. They also harm sensitive pollinator populations and, according to the non-profit Farmworker Justice, cause those who work in agriculture to suffer more chemical-related illnesses and injuries than any other workforce nationwide. The new regulations maintain a status-quo regarding pesticide management instead of evolving to a system where pesticides are used as a method of last resort after evaluating alternative pest management measures. Read more about the issue in VTDigger.

A study published in 2022 in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) found that current water quality guidelines for chloride in North America and Europe are insufficient for protecting lakes from salinization. Researchers found that “it takes less than a teaspoon of salt in five gallons (19 liters) of water to harm aquatic life.” That concentration is lower than the recommended limits of every nation included in the study. As concentrations increase, salt can have a cascading effect on the food web. For example, too much salt can kill zooplankton which feed on phytoplankton (microscopic plants) including cyanobacteria, allowing blooms to flourish. Salt can also mobilize mercury, lead, and other toxic substances threatening water quality for humans and wildlife. Learn more from this story in Ensia.

A new study published in the Journal of Environmental Research indicates high levels of Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in freshwater fish across the US. PFAS are used in jet fuel, fire-fighting foam, and numerous household products including types of food packaging. Both New York and Vermont have passed PFAS regulations but the “forever chemicals” are highly persistent in the environment and in the body. They “bioaccumulate”—increase in concentration as they work up the food chain—in fish. Researchers based their conclusions on a review of fish samples from across the US over a two-year period. While the samples included many persistent chemicals, “the biggest contributor to total PFAS levels was the compound known as PFOS, responsible for about 74 percent of the total.” Although PFOS has been generally phased out of manufacturing (it was the main ingredient in the fabric protector Scotchgard), it resists environmental degradation. The study found that one freshwater fish serving can be equivalent to drinking water for a month at 48 parts per trillion (ppt) PFOS—which is an astounding 2,400 times the drinking water health advisory for PFOS from the Environmental Protection Agency. Eating one or more meals of fish per week is common among anglers, people living along shorelines, and communities where fish are a dietary staple or culturally important. “The researchers therefore characterized exposure to PFAS in freshwater fish as ‘a textbook case of environmental injustice’ in which certain communities are ‘inordinately harmed.’” Read more about this public health and environmental justice issue in The Hill.