NPDES Permit

The Illinois EPA is in the process of finalizing a state NPDES permit for pesticide applications as required by a federal lawsuit last year.  The ag industry groups, including IFCA, are meeting with Illinois EPA to express serious concerns over the language in the Illinois permit.  While the federal lawsuit requires pesticide applications made directly to water to obtain a NPDES permit, the draft permit applies very prescriptive requirements to all pesticide applicators, including detailed requirements regarding maintenance of pesticide application equipment.  It also expands the scope of the permit to cover all waters of Illinois which could include drainage ditches, potholes, etc.  It even mentions that seed treatments may be subject to permitting. 

While pesticide residues that may reach waters from agricultural runoff are exempt, we are learning that in order for pesticide applicators to be protected from civil lawsuits regarding pesticide residues that may show up in water, a custom application business may have to obtain a NPDES permit even if they are only performing routine agricultural pesticide applications.  In other words, if you don’t get a NPDES permit, and an environmental activist group detects a pesticide residue in a drainage ditch or other water, they could sue a pesticide applicator if the applicator did not obtain a NPDES permit.  It would be up to you to prove the residue came from runoff and not a spray boom passing over the ditch.  On the other hand, if you decide to get a NPDES permit to protect yourself against civil lawsuits, you are stating that you may be applying agricultural pesticides to water, which in itself is a violation of the pesticide label.  This is really a no win situation for our industry. 

As we continue to work with IEPA to make this permit as workable as possible for Illinois agriculture, we hope that our Congress can fix this mess by passing legislation that will clearly state that pesticide applications made according to the label instructions are NOT subject to Clean Water Act jurisdiction.  The compliance date for the pesticide NPDES program is April 2011, so a lot needs to be done in the next few months to bring as much clarity and reason to this issue as possible for our industry.  We will keep you posted.