US Environmental Protection Agency - Insecticide a risk for workers and drinking water

About the US Environmental Protection Agency

The US Environmental Protection Agency was created with the purpose of protecting human health and the environment by creating and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress. This agency was founded in 2 December 1970 since then it has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for people. The acronym used for naming this agency is EPA.

Insecticide a risk for workers and drinking water

Monday 5th of January 2015, EPA released a new risk evaluation for public comment. Even if currently pesticide is no longer contaminating food and it is not an airborne thread for workers currently ones who mix, load and apply pesticide are still at risk.

Chlorpyrifos is a crystalline organophosphate insecticide, which was commonly used an insecticide on crops, golf courses, and in the home, has been known to have a negative impact on the growth and development of the brain and the children's central nervous system. This insecticide may also contaminate drinking water.

Fifteen years ago, EPA banned the household use of chlorpyrifos. It can now only be used as bait in child-proof packaging. Though formerly sprayed on tomatoes, apples, citrus fruits and tree nuts, EPA imposed no-spray rules, created buffer zones around public spaces and lowered pesticide application rates.

From the newly risk evaluation we can deduce that more restrictions should be applied to protect worker's health and drinking water sources as the pesticide undergoes its registration review.

Which are the natural sources of water?

Have you ever wondered which are the natural sources of water? Here is the answer. Natural sources of water are oceans, rivers and lakes. Here are a few pieces of information you should really know about each of them:

Oceans

Oceans can be described as being a vast body of salt water, oceans cover about 70% of the earth's surface.

One way to obtain drinking water from salt water
is distillation, this is one of the oldest treatment and still popular today.

This source of natural water also provides us other resources like: food (sea food and fish), oil, salt, minerals, metals and of course means of transport.
Also it is well known that oceans influence climate.

Rivers

Rivers are natural streams of water flowing flowing towards an ocean, a sea,  a lake or another river. 

There are about 165 major rivers in the whole world, first ones are the Amazon, the Nile and the Yangtze. Other than these major rivers there are thousands of smaller which also act as a source of natural water for billions of people.

Lakes

One can define a lake as a large area of water which is surrounded by land. Of course there might be a river which can serve as feed or drain for the lake.

Lakes supply drinking water, generate electricity, can be used to irrigate fields and of course it can serve as recreational areas.

You should know that drinking water from a lake is not healthy and you should disinfect the water before drinking it. By drinking from this source of water you risk getting waterborne diseases. A natural way of purify lake water for drinking is boiling it.