Atrazine contamination affects 860,000 miles of U.S. waterways

A new analysis by the Center for Biological Diversity estimates that atrazine contamination, at levels harmful to aquatic wildlife, extends across nearly 860,000 miles of rivers and streams in the lower 48 states. This figure represents more than one-quarter of all river and stream miles in the continental United States.

The report, titled “Pernicious Pesticide: Atrazine’s Growing Threats to Drinking Water, Rivers, People, and Wildlife,” utilized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water-monitoring and modeling data to identify affected watersheds. The findings suggest that these contaminated waterways cross more than 250 million acres, roughly one-eighth of the land area of the lower 48 states.

Beyond ecological concerns, the analysis found that dangerous levels of the hormone-disrupting herbicide pollute waterways used by more than 20% of U.S. surface-water treatment facilities, reservoirs, and water intakes. Identified hotspots with high contamination levels include the Chesapeake Bay, the Midwest Corn Belt, Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, the lower Mississippi River, and the Texas Gulf Coast.