INDIANA GROUND WATER PROTECTION
GENERIC STATE MANAGEMENT PLAN (SMP)
Status Report
September 25, 1996
The U.S. EPA has proposed a federal rule (June 26, 1996) that will require states to have ground water protection plans for the continued use of five widely used herbicides: alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, metolachlor, and simazine. The Office of Indiana State Chemist (OISC), based at Purdue University, is the state lead agency for pesticide regulation. OISC operates under the cooperative pesticide enforcement and program development agreements with the U.S. EPA.
The proposed Indiana SMP focuses on protecting both present and future sources of drinking water and ground water and establishes no degradation of water quality as the program goal.
The intent of the generic SMP is to utilize existing governmental programs and resources to the maximum extent. The development of the SMP has included representatives from all state programs with statutory responsibilities for the management of Indiana's ground water, leadership from Indiana agricultural and environmental organizations, university research, education and representatives from industry. Organizations participating in the development of the generic SMP include:
OISC, IDEM, IDNR, NRCS, DES, IDH, USGS, Indiana Geological Survey, Indiana Environmental Institute, Farm Services Agency, Indiana Plant Food and Ag Chemical Association, Indiana Farm Bureau, Hoosier Environmental Council, Izaak Walton League, Indiana Corn Growers Association, Indiana Soybean Growers Association, Purdue Pesticide Programs, Pesticide Registrants (-CIBA, Monsanto, Zeneca, Dupont, and Dow Elanco), Indiana Well Drillers Association, Indianapolis Water Company, Indiana American Water Company, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Marion County Department of Health, MACOG, Purdue University, Indiana University, and Indiana Agricultural Statistics Service.
A technique for developing ground water vulnerability to pesticide maps for state-sized areas uses geographic information system and other data bases commonly available. The vulnerability maps consider pesticide use data, subsurface materials, ground water, chemical movement simulations, and actual pesticide in ground water data. Areas identified as being highly vulnerable to pesticide use allow Indiana to geographically prioritize prevention, monitoring, and response activities of the SMP.
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View expanded DRASTIC Pesticide Vulnerability Map
The objective of the Indiana monitoring network is to sample selected wells in a manner that will provide a statistical evaluation of trends in pesticide occurrence and trends in pesticide concentrations in major aquifers. Criteria were selected to determine which pesticide active ingredients should be included in a baseline monitoring network. Products containing 2,4-D, alachlor, atrazine, carbofuran, cyanazine, metolachlor, metribuzin, simazine, and terbufos met four or more of the following criteria and received the highest priority:
. ground water advisory present on product label;
. detection in ground water samples collected in Indiana government agencies;
. detection in public water supply (SWDA) compliance samples;
. currently registered for sale or use in the state of Indiana;
. during three of the last four years, applied to >5% of corn acres;
. during three of the last four years, applied to >5% of soybeans acres.
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View expanded Historical Pesticide Monitoring Map
Twenty-two areas representing eight principal categories of hydro geological settings make up the ambient water quality network.
(Click here to view table of settings.)
Twenty randomly selected
points have been identified in each area. Water wells identified in the
vicinity of the randomly selected points are being considered for use in
the network.
Approximately 400 water wells are scheduled to be sampled each quarter. These samples will be evaluated by OISC to determine the presence/absence of pesticides. The eight principal categories of hydro geological settings include: unconsolidated sediment underlying till plains; moraine environments, outwash fans, outwash plains and valley, bedrock covered by thin layer of glacial drift, tunnel valleys beyond moraine-belts, karst areas, and Pennsylvanian bedrock of the driftless area.
The standard for evaluating monitoring samples will be the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or Health Advisory Level (HAL), as established by the Office of Water, US EPA.
Pesticide management areas (PMA's) may be established through the Indiana Pesticide Review Board if concentrations of pesticide active ingredient meet or exceed 50% of the established MCL/HAL.
Best management practices (BMP's) and other suitable response measures for identified PMA's will be developed through a technical advisory committee appointed by the Indiana Pesticide Review Board. A technical advisory committee may include the following: weed scientist, pesticide registrant, producer/farmer, local government, crop production scientist, soil scientist, water scientists, and state agency representatives.
The comment period for the proposed federal SMP rule closes on October 24, 1996. U.S. EPA estimates that comment review and publishing of a final rule will take until summer of 1997. The proposed rule currently calls for pesticide specific SMP's to be developed and implemented 33 months after the effective date of the final rule. This would mean MP's required by spring 2000. State discussions on the proposed rule have included the following: support of localized management concept; SMP development has fostered cooperative working relationships within states; concern for funding of SMP activities (i.e., monitoring); need to allow considerable flexibility in SMP's; need to allow for state appeal of EPA review/approval process; and need to allow more than 2 years to evaluate SMP's.
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email: hahnl@hahn.isco.purdue.edu