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THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2019
Associated Press
An aerial applicator sprays a fi eld. Oregon regulators have seen reduced pesticide levels in key waterways.
Pesticide levels drop in key Oregon waterways
By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI
Capital Press
Pesticide levels in some key Oregon
waterways have dropped to a fraction of
their former concentrations due to changes
voluntarily adopted by farmers, according
to environmental regulators.
Monitoring by Oregon’s Department of
Environmental Quality has found that grow-
ers are willing to alter spray regimens to
achieve successful water quality results.
“Overall, we’ve seen improvements in a
number of agricultural areas, particularly in
the Columbia plateau. We’ve seen agricul-
ture respond to the data,” said Kevin Mas-
terson, the Department of Environmental
Quality’s toxics coordinator.
About 50% of the waterway sites tested
under an interagency “pesticide steward-
ship partnership” program showed progress
in pesticide detections and concentrations
during the 2015-2017 sampling period,
compared to the previous biennium.
Roughly 27% of the tested sites showed
declines in water quality from pesticides,
while 23% showed no change during that
time, according to data compiled by the
department.
Those numbers don’t tell the whole story,
however, because the monitoring is tar-
geted toward streams where pesticides are
detected, while those without occurrences
are dropped from testing, said Masterson.
“It is a targeted monitoring program,” he
said, adding that the water quality improve-
ments are noteworthy given that regulators
are focusing on areas with problems. “What
we don’t fi nd is as important as what we do.”
The monitoring program has resulted in
signifi cant reductions in pesticide levels in
such watersheds as the Walla Walla, where
the concentration of diuron herbicide has
effectively fallen to zero from a maximum
level of 18.9 micrograms per liter and an
average level of 1.5 micrograms per liter in
2010.
When presented with the diuron data,
the local irrigation district stopped treat-
ing ditches with the herbicide during dry
periods and instead switched to mechani-
cal removal and spot-treatment with a less-
toxic and -persistent chemical, Masterson
said.
Concentrations of the malathion insecti-
cide have likewise plummeted in the Wasco
basin, where cherry growers are now more
reliant on weather stations to time their
spraying, according to the department.
Aerial applications now occur on the inte-
rior of orchards while areas near streams are
sprayed by hand.
Not every waterway under scrutiny has
seen a decrease in pesticide levels — those
in the Willamette Valley, for example, have
generally seen concentrations rise and fall
without a clear trajectory, said Masterson.
“In a lot of areas, we haven’t seen sus-
tained trends for pesticides of interest,” he
said. “Even though it’s a challenge in some
watersheds, it’s been a success in others.”
Decreasing pesticide levels in water is
generally more straightforward in regions
primarily dedicated to certain crops —
Walla Walla for apples, Hood River for
pears, Wasco for cherries — compared to
those where agricultural land use is less uni-
form, said Kirk Cook, pesticide steward-
ship specialist at the Oregon Department of
Agriculture.
“Those are usually where we have a
wide diversity of crops grown and chemi-
cals used,” he said.
For the same reason, more progress has
been seen among farmers compared to more
numerous city dwellers, who are more dif-
Empty-handed dinner guest
Dear Annie: I live in the Midwest. My igating the loss. He had attended a multi-
husband and I have a good friend who dines week grief class years before and shared this
with us quite often, usually once or twice a event.
week, as well as on holidays. She is a long-
A petite woman faithfully attended grief
time friend. The problem is this: She
classes each week for a long time
never brings anything with her when
and never spoke a word to the group.
DEAR
asked to dinner. She never asks us
Finally, at the close of the class,
ANNIE
to her place for a meal. She never
she spoke saying, “I’d like to say
offers to buy dinner when we go out,
something.” Everyone stopped
maybe once a year. She never offers
talking, almost in disbelief. The room
to bring carryout. She is fairly close
was quiet. She continued: “Profound
and watches our house when we are
grief of a spouse is like accidentally
out of town, which we appreciate.
and signifi cantly cutting your arm. It
How do we proceed with solving
hurts really bad and seems that you
this problem without alienating her? ANNIE LANE may never stop the bleeding. But
Creators
— Hungry
you do. Not too long after, you bump
Dear Hungry: The next time
the wound and the scab comes off.
you invite her over for dinner, sim-
It bleeds and hurts for a long time,
ply say, “Oh, by the way, would you please and then begins to heal again. This process
bring an appetizer” (or dessert or side dish). repeats itself over and over for a long time.
Mention it as though it’s the most natural One day, you look at your arm and see a ten-
thing in the world. There’s no reason for you der scar that will be part of you for the rest
to feel awkward. It’s perfectly appropriate. of your life. The scar is there, but it doesn’t
If you have any hesitations, just imagine if hurt like when it was a new wound, and the
the tables were turned — that you’d been bleeding has stopped.”
dining at a friend’s house for years and then
I’ve shared this with so many since it was
she casually asked you to bring something to fi rst told to me. It seems to resonate with
dinner that week. Would you feel indignant? anyone who knows the loss of a beloved
No. If anything, you’d perhaps feel embar- spouse.
rassed that she had to ask.
Thanks for all you do every day to help so
Dear Annie: I lost my wife of 42 and 1/2 many people you don’t even know and will
years in late 2014. I met her when she was never meet. — Rob R., Jacksonville Beach,
15, started dating when she was 17, and I Florida
married Shirley when she was 20 and I was
Dear Rob: Your letter brought tears to
21. A friend of 41 years had previously lost my eyes. Thank you for passing on this wis-
his wife and stepped in to assist me in nav- dom. I’m so sorry for your loss.
fi cult to communicate with on a large scale,
said Masterson. “We’ve been able to see
major declines in agricultural areas that we
haven’t been able to see in urban areas.”
Farmers have generally taken pride in
seeing a positive response from their efforts
to keep pesticides out of water, Cook said.
“Any regulatory action that you take is gen-
erally something that is forced on them. Peo-
ple are going to react negatively to some-
thing that is forced on them.”
There’s also an incentive to take volun-
tary action because growers know that a
lack of improvement could result in regula-
tory action that cuts off access to pesticides,
he said.
For pesticides subject to the federal
Clean Water Act, exceeding benchmarks
for concentrations in water could result in a
more restrictive “total maximum daily load”
process than the current voluntary approach,
he said.
Exceeding benchmarks for other “pesti-
cides of concern” identifi ed by Oregon reg-
ulators could also cause those chemicals
to be pulled from the market if voluntary
action were ineffective, Cook said.
“That would not be available for the
applicator community to use,” he said. “Our
goal is to not have that happen.”
2019-2020 | 30TH SEASON
COLUMBIAFORUM
Tuesday, October 29, 2019
6 pm Appetizers • 6:30 pm Dinner • 7 pm Program
Ten myths about climate change
Are extreme weather events getting more extreme? Do we have 11 years before the window to “solve”
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Scientists began studying climate change over 100 years ago, and have uncovered many fascinating
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(sometimes very well-established, sometimes fresh and untested) plays
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of the science of climate change, from the global scale
to the Astoria area, from someone who has studied
the subject for over 20 years. And bring your own
questions.
Philip Mote is vice provost and dean of the Graduate
School and remains active in the Oregon Climate
Change Research Institute (OCCRI) and the
NOAA-funded Climate Impacts Research Consor-
tium (CIRC) for the Northwest. He is very active in
leadership of the 60,000-member American Geo-
physical Union, as President of Global Environmental
Change, member of the Council, Vice Chair of the
Council Leadership Team, and a member of the Board.
Philip was the founding director (2009-19) of OCCRI
and remains involved in communicating climate
science within Oregon.
He earned a B.A. in Physics from Harvard Uni-
versity and a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences
from the University of Washington.
Columbia Forum Sponsors:
• The Astorian/Coast River Business
Journal
• KMUN
• Cannery pier Hotel and spa
• Craft3
• OSU seafood experiment station
Philip Mote, Oregon State Climatologist
COLUMBIAFORUM 2018-19
RSVP by Friday, October 25, 2019
For reservations, to become a
member or be added to contact list:
Call 503-325-4955 or email
forum@dailyastorian.com
Forum to be held at
(new location):
Chef Chris Holen’s
NEKST EVENT
175 14th St., Ste 100
Astoria
Foot of 12th St.
Use back-in parking
To Attend:
Members: Dinner & Lecture $25 each; Lecture only free.
Non-Members: Dinner & Lecture $35 each; Lecture only $15 each
Appetizers available at 6pm. Dinner will be served at 6:30pm. Lecture will begin after dinner.