October 2009
Evaluation of Drinking Water Monitoring Data for FIFRA Compensation Arbitration - Atrazine
FIFRA requires that pesticide manufacturers apply with the EPA to register pesticides
for sale and use in the United States. Registration evaluations must show that when
used as intended, pesticides do not pose unreasonable adverse effects to
human health or the environment. The EPA requires that technical registrants
collect and submit pesticide-specific data, and may also incorporate data from other
sources. After a series of evaluations, the EPA granted the reregistration of
atrazine in 2003.
Due to its wide-spread use on corn crops, sorghum and sugar cane and presence in
surface water and groundwater, the atrazine drinking water evaluation was a major
component of the reregistration process. The EPA consulted a wealth of available
information regarding atrazine concentrations in groundwater and surface water,
with a focus on drinking water data collected by atrazine registrants.
ChemRisk was asked to evaluate the atrazine drinking water data utilized by
the EPA to support the atrazine reregistration, and to understand the contributory
value of each dataset. To this end, a large-scale review of numerous risk
assessments, exposure assessments and supporting documentation for atrazine and
other pesticides included in EPA’s FIFRA Reregistration program was conducted.
Important factors for atrazine-specific drinking water exposures proved to be the
contribution of surface water vs. groundwater to community water systems,
understanding the purpose of each monitoring program, frequency and timing of
sample collection, consideration of health effects (e.g. acute vs. chronic toxicity),
and more.
ChemRisk concluded that the data collected by the registrants alone were sufficient
to perform the risk assessments conducted by the EPA for the reregistration.
Additionally, these data represented the most comprehensive of any dataset readily
available to the EPA.
Click on the links below for more information regarding atrazine water monitoring data.
EPA Atrazine Reregistration Status Webpage.
USGS - Pesticide National Synthesis Project.