DNREC To Hold Public Workshops On Commercial Pesticide

DNREC will hold a series of public workshops this month in each of the state’s three counties for commercial pesticide applicators in Delaware who spray in or near water. The workshops are in response to new emergency regulatory requirements administered through DNREC’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) which will now additionally permit aquatic pesticide applications.

The emergency Regulations Governing Discharges from the Application of Pesticides to Waters of the State will allow pesticide applicators to obtain the required NPDES permit coverage for applying aquatic pesticides from March through September, 2012. In Delaware, the regulation will apply only to commercial applicators (certified through the Delaware Department of Agriculture) within certain categories. The emergency regulation will be in place for a three-month period (with an additional three-month extension), with the final regulations expected in September, 2012. Much of the aquatic pesticide spraying during this timeframe is concentrated on eliminating mosquito populations, which are a significant risk to human health and welfare due to their ability to transmit diseases and other blood-borne vectors.

The workshops will present information about the emergency regulations and required permitting, and will assist DNREC in acquiring public input about the emergency regulations for moving toward completion of the final regulation. Workshop dates and locations are as follows:

· Thursday, March 15 (6 - 8 p.m.), DelTech Stanton Conference Center, 400 Stanton Christiana Road Newark, DE 19713

· Thursday, March 22 (6 - 8 p.m.), DNREC Auditorium, R&R Building, 89 Kings Hwy. Dover, DE 19901
· Thursday, March 29 (6 - 8 p.m.), Georgetown Library, 123 W. Pine St., Georgetown, DE 19947

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