I was born and raised in North Delta and South Delta ( Ladner and Tsawwassen) is historically known for important farming and fishing communities. During our class on Friday, I was interested in learning more about the environmental impacts of pesticides and the certain environmental policies that exist in BC in regards to farming.
I found an amazing resource developed by BCโs Ministry of Agriculture which focuses on environmental protection and pesticides. The diagram above is very helpful as it summarizes the processes that affect what happens to pesticides in the environment. The transfer of pesticides is facilitated by volatilization, leaching, absorption and crop removal. I donโt have a strong understanding of pesticides and this resource includes a lot of helpful material including pesticide transfer processes, pesticide characteristics, different breakdown processes and ways to minimize the impact of pesticides.
Since Iโm curious to learn about pesticide use in BC, I came across a report focusing on a survey conducted in 2017 by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. This report is really informative and interesting, so check it out! The top two pesticides used in BC were listed as 1) Bromadiolone and 2) Permethrin. Bromadiolone is a rodenticide that kills rats and mice and is highly toxic to most mammals and birds. Permethrin, however, is an insecticide and does not pose high risks to wildlife. Both pesticides are known to stay in the environment for a while.
Bromadiolone:
In soil, half-life is 15 days
In water, half is 392 days
Permethrin:
In soil, half-life is 40 days
In water column, half-life is 19-27 hours
Please note these statistics are estimates I found online! As we can see, Bromadiolone has a very long