Applicators commercial pesticide, wastewater

Commercial pesticide applicators are faced with a serious problem in the proper disposal of the large volumes of pesticide contaminated wastewater that are produced during the cleanup of application equipment. Various studies (Whittaker et al. 1982) have reported that the typical agricultural pesticide applicator will produce between 100 and 400 liters of pesticide-contaminated wash water each time he cleans the equipment. For a typical applicator, this amounts to approximately 20,000 liters of waste annually from each piece of equipment (i.e., airplane or truck) that he uses. 

Of the dozen technologies that are being investigated for disposing of pesticide wastewater, only four methods are currently available commercially ( 3, 1J0 (Table IV). But, the question must be asked, available to whom Often even the simpliest technology is not priced in the range that farmers and small commercial applicators can afford. 

Figure 1. Pesticide-contaminated wastewater treatment system for commercial applicators.

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