Ground-water Sensitivity and Vulnerability to Pesticides in Utah

Book excerpt: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is recommending that states develop Pesticide Management Plans for four agricultural chemicals – alachlor, atrazine, metolachlor, and simazine – herbicides used in Utah in the production of corn and sorghum. This report and accompanying maps are intended to be used as part of these Pesticide Management Plans to provide local, state, and federal government agencies and agricultural pesticide users with a base of information concerning sensitivity and vulnerability of ground water to agricultural pesticides in Utah. We used existing data to produce pesticide sensitivity and vulnerability maps by applying a combined process-based and index-based model specifically tailored to the Western United States using Geographic Information System analysis methods. This is a first cut at developing pesticide sensitivity and vulnerability maps; better data and tools may become available in the future so that better maps can be produced. 40 pages + 2 plates