Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill pests, including insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides). The USGS assesses the occurrence and behavior of pesticides in streams, lakes, and groundwater and the potential for pesticides to contaminate our drinking-water supplies or harm aquatic ecosystems.
NOTICE: The USGS agricultural pesticide-use estimates are supported by funding from the USGS National Water Quality Program for the purpose of better understanding pesticides in freshwater and their impact on water availability nationwide. The USGS recently updated its plan to publish pesticide-use estimates. Final annual pesticide-use estimates, for approximately 400 compounds, from 2018-22 will be published in 2025. After that, preliminary estimates will be published annually and later updated with final estimates once the USDA Census of Agriculture is released (every five years). The total number of pesticides included in the analysis will fluctuate annually, based on data availability from our pesticide use survey contract provider. (Updated February 27, 2024)
Pesticides are used in agriculture, in homes and businesses, on lawns and gardens, along roads, in recreational areas, and on pets and livestock. There are hundreds of different pesticide chemicals in use in the United States. In 2007, about 390 million kilograms (430,000 tons) of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, were used in the United States. Pesticides released into the environment for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes can contaminate surface water and groundwater, which are critical sources of drinking water.
The USGS, through its National Water Quality Program, researches numerous aspects of pesticides and water quality, and has developed maps, graphics, and tools to aid in understanding where pesticides occur, at what concentrations, and potential consequences.
- Pesticide Use: The tables, maps, and graphs provided on this web site provide estimates of agricultural pesticide use in the conterminous United States for hundreds of pesticides.
- Trends in Pesticide Occurrence in Streams: Use the online tool to view a national maps of trends in pesticide concentrations in streams.
- Concentrations of Pesticides in Water of Potential Human-Health Concern: This searchable online database provides Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides and degradates.
- Pesticide Toxicity to Aquatic Organisms: The Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) can be used to assess the potential toxicity of pesticide mixtures in water to freshwater aquatic organisms. Benchmarks also are available for pesticides in sediment.
- Pesticides and Stream Ecology: The Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) is assessing how chemical stressors, such as pesticides and nutrients, and physical stressors, such as disturbed streambanks and sedimentation, are affecting the aquatic organisms that live in small streams across the United States.
- Pesticides and Lake Sediment: Many pesticides dissolve in water, but some pesticides, like DDT and chlordane, adhere to sediment and persist for years in the bed sediments of stream and lakes, recording the history of contaminant use in watershed.
Learn more about USGS research on pesticides and related water-quality topics at the web pages below.
Below, you'll find links to data sets developed for investigation of pesticides.
Below, you’ll find the latest in peer-reviewed journal articles and USGS reports on pesticides and water quality. For more publications on this topic, search the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Prioritizing pesticide compounds for analytical methods development
Regression models for estimating concentrations of atrazine plus deethylatrazine in shallow groundwater in agricultural areas of the United States
Contaminants in stream sediments from seven U.S. metropolitan areas: Data summary of a National Pilot Study
Methods to characterize environmental settings of stream and groundwater sampling sites for National Water-Quality Assessment
Chemical mixtures in untreated water from public-supply wells in the U.S. — Occurrence, composition, and potential toxicity
Sources and preparation of data for assessing trends in concentrations of pesticides in streams of the United States, 1992–2010
Adjustment of pesticide concentrations for temporal changes in analytical recovery, 1992–2010
National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) area-characterization toolbox
The quality of our Nation’s waters: Quality of water from public-supply wells in the United States, 1993–2007: Overview of major findings
Quality of Source Water from Public-Supply Wells in the United States, 1993-2007
Method for Estimating Annual Atrazine Use for Counties in the Conterminous United States, 1992-2007
Trends in pesticide concentrations in urban streams in the United States, 1992-2008
Pesticide science in the news! Read recent highlights.
Pesticides are chemicals designed to kill pests, including insects (insecticides), weeds (herbicides), and fungi (fungicides). The USGS assesses the occurrence and behavior of pesticides in streams, lakes, and groundwater and the potential for pesticides to contaminate our drinking-water supplies or harm aquatic ecosystems.
NOTICE: The USGS agricultural pesticide-use estimates are supported by funding from the USGS National Water Quality Program for the purpose of better understanding pesticides in freshwater and their impact on water availability nationwide. The USGS recently updated its plan to publish pesticide-use estimates. Final annual pesticide-use estimates, for approximately 400 compounds, from 2018-22 will be published in 2025. After that, preliminary estimates will be published annually and later updated with final estimates once the USDA Census of Agriculture is released (every five years). The total number of pesticides included in the analysis will fluctuate annually, based on data availability from our pesticide use survey contract provider. (Updated February 27, 2024)
Pesticides are used in agriculture, in homes and businesses, on lawns and gardens, along roads, in recreational areas, and on pets and livestock. There are hundreds of different pesticide chemicals in use in the United States. In 2007, about 390 million kilograms (430,000 tons) of pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, were used in the United States. Pesticides released into the environment for agricultural and nonagricultural purposes can contaminate surface water and groundwater, which are critical sources of drinking water.
The USGS, through its National Water Quality Program, researches numerous aspects of pesticides and water quality, and has developed maps, graphics, and tools to aid in understanding where pesticides occur, at what concentrations, and potential consequences.
- Pesticide Use: The tables, maps, and graphs provided on this web site provide estimates of agricultural pesticide use in the conterminous United States for hundreds of pesticides.
- Trends in Pesticide Occurrence in Streams: Use the online tool to view a national maps of trends in pesticide concentrations in streams.
- Concentrations of Pesticides in Water of Potential Human-Health Concern: This searchable online database provides Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) for hundreds of chemicals, including pesticides and degradates.
- Pesticide Toxicity to Aquatic Organisms: The Pesticide Toxicity Index (PTI) can be used to assess the potential toxicity of pesticide mixtures in water to freshwater aquatic organisms. Benchmarks also are available for pesticides in sediment.
- Pesticides and Stream Ecology: The Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) is assessing how chemical stressors, such as pesticides and nutrients, and physical stressors, such as disturbed streambanks and sedimentation, are affecting the aquatic organisms that live in small streams across the United States.
- Pesticides and Lake Sediment: Many pesticides dissolve in water, but some pesticides, like DDT and chlordane, adhere to sediment and persist for years in the bed sediments of stream and lakes, recording the history of contaminant use in watershed.
Learn more about USGS research on pesticides and related water-quality topics at the web pages below.
Below, you'll find links to data sets developed for investigation of pesticides.
Below, you’ll find the latest in peer-reviewed journal articles and USGS reports on pesticides and water quality. For more publications on this topic, search the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Prioritizing pesticide compounds for analytical methods development
Regression models for estimating concentrations of atrazine plus deethylatrazine in shallow groundwater in agricultural areas of the United States
Contaminants in stream sediments from seven U.S. metropolitan areas: Data summary of a National Pilot Study
Methods to characterize environmental settings of stream and groundwater sampling sites for National Water-Quality Assessment
Chemical mixtures in untreated water from public-supply wells in the U.S. — Occurrence, composition, and potential toxicity
Sources and preparation of data for assessing trends in concentrations of pesticides in streams of the United States, 1992–2010
Adjustment of pesticide concentrations for temporal changes in analytical recovery, 1992–2010
National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) area-characterization toolbox
The quality of our Nation’s waters: Quality of water from public-supply wells in the United States, 1993–2007: Overview of major findings
Quality of Source Water from Public-Supply Wells in the United States, 1993-2007
Method for Estimating Annual Atrazine Use for Counties in the Conterminous United States, 1992-2007
Trends in pesticide concentrations in urban streams in the United States, 1992-2008
Pesticide science in the news! Read recent highlights.