The cornerstone of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) strategy for protecting ground water has been in the development of a Pesticide Management Plan. This project addresses both the responsibilities of the NDA as prescribed by the Nebraska Pesticide Act, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) intention to require similar plans in the future.
Under the EPA's management plan program, the agency will first identify pesticides which it believes pose a risk to ground water quality. EPA will then publish a rule in the Federal Register which requires states wishing to continue use of these pesticides to develop Pesticide-Specific Management Plans. Only those states having EPA-approved management plans capable of protecting ground water will be able to continue using these particular pesticides.
Pesticide Management Plans (PMPs) are intended to identify for EPA how the State intends to:
EPA has given responsibility for developing PMPs to the states, with the idea that these would be more flexible and better able to address local concerns and conditions. The government and the private sector will be able to effectively direct their energies and resources to limiting potentially harmful actions from occurring in specific areas.
EPA has published its proposed rule for PMPs. Should the rule become final, the first four pesticides to be addressed by this approach include atrazine, simizine, alachlor, and metolachlor.
In order to be more prepared for the final rule, EPA has encouraged the states to move ahead by
developing a Generic State Management Plan (GSMP). These "generic" plans would provide
the
states a
head start on the process and could be quickly adapted to whatever pesticides EPA may
eventually name.
NDA has completed work on Nebraska's Generic State Management Plan (GSMP). The plan was a cooperative effort between NDA and other state, federal, and local agencies. The GSMP was circulated to over 60 organizations representing growers, pesticide applicators, crop consultants, pesticide manufacturers, and other public interest groups for comment prior to being finalized and submitted to EPA for review.
Nebraska's GSMP outlines the various roles and programs already in place in the state, which can be used to address the issue of pesticides in ground water. It provides a general outline of monitoring programs which will be used to assess ground water quality and the types of programs which can be used to protect ground water from pesticides. The plan also summarizes the process the state will use in determining what action to take in the event that pesticides are detected in the ground water. Much of the information, or tools, that producers can use right now, in advance of any formal rules or mandates, can be found at NDA's Tools for Water Resource Protection page.
Files in PDF format can be viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader.
