Pesticide Application Equipment

Nye, J. C., Whittaker, K. F. 1980. Collection and Treatment of Rlnsewater from Pesticide Application Equipment, Paper No. 80-2108, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan. 

The pesticide application equipment used is important to the success of your pest control job. You must first select the right kind of application equipment, then you must use it correctly and take good care of it. Here are some things you should know about choosing, using, and caring for equipment. 

Sprayers are the most common pesticide application equipment. They ate standard equipment for nearly every professional pesticide applicator and are used in every type of pest control operation. Sprayers range in size and complexity from simple, hand-held models to intricate machines weighing several tons. 

Parkin CS, AJ Gilbert, ESE Southcombe and CJ Marshall 1994. British Crop Protection Council Scheme for the classification of pesticide application equipment by hazard. Crop Protection 13(4), 281-285. 

The level of expected exposure for two types of conmonly used pesticide application equipment is discussed. There is also a discussion of the research needed to enable OPP to make more reliable estima es of applicator exposure to pesticides. 

Protocols should require documentation of actual application practices and times. Samples of applied pesticides should be collected to document application rates to study sites. The test substance must be applied with typical equipment used for the crop, and the application must be made in accordance with the labeled use. Another variable that impacts such studies is the fact that most landowners have their own application equipment, which increases the variance in actual application rates among fields and may cause differential intra-field heterogeneity in application rates. 

Ten lined evaporation beds for disposing of pesticide wastes from used pesticide containers and application equipment were monitored over a two-year period for possible buildup and decay of deposited pesticides The evaporation beds had been In operation for many years prior to sampling and were distributed throughout the state with geographical and cllmatlcal differences. 

Over the past five years, a system for removing pesticides from the wash water produced by pesticide applicators as they clean their equipment has been developed. The system incorporates a two-stage treatment process. The first step is the flocculation/coagulation and sedimentation of the pesticide contaminated wash water. The supernatant from the first step is then passed through activated carbon columns. This paper describes the development of the system, the evaluation of the system s adequacy to handle a wide variety of pesticides, and the recommendations on the implementation of this system to commercial pesticide applicators. 

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. 

Several factors affect the extent of hazard associated with pesticide use. The compound used, the type of formulation, and the application equipment are important. Acute toxic hazards of active ingredients may be categorized but it must be recognized that the type of operation will also influence the hazard to the operator. For example, it has been stated that the application of parathion to fruit orchards by a power airblast sprayer is twice as hazardous to the operator as the application of dust to row crops with a boom duster (4 ). 

Knaak, J. B. Jackson, T. Fredrickson, A. S. Maddy, K. T. Akesson, N. B. Safety effectiveness of pesticide mixingloading and application equipment used in California in 1976. Arch. Environm. Contam. Toxicol., 1980, 9, 217. 

Mixing/loading is mixing the active pesticide ingredient with other substances, such as water, and/or loading the pesticide into application equipment. 

Ekblad, R. Armstrong, J. Barry, J. Bergen, J. Miller I. Shea P., "A Problem Analysis-Forest and Range Pesticide Application Technology" U.S. Dep. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Missoula Equipment Development Center, Missoula, MT. 1979 PP. 107. 

The source of the exposure either before or after the actual spray date appears to be related to some contact with the phe-noxys of which the crewmember was not aware. Possible avenues of re-exposure include wearing phenoxy contaminated clothing on days other than the planned spray day, i.e., gloves, boots, pants, shirts, or chaps. Workers may also have received some exposure from their phenoxy application equipment. This may occur if a worker has a spray operation scheduled and wants to clean or check his equipment in advance. Another potential source of exposure is the vehicles in which the workers ride. Often workers, pesticide concentrate, empty containers, and equipment are hauled in the same pick-up truck or van. 

The WHO Pesticide Evaluation Scheme (WHOPES), set up in 1960, is the only international programme that promotes and coordinates the testing and evaluation of pesticides intended for public health use. The International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (2) constitutes the framework for WHOPES in promoting the safe handling and use, efficacy, cost-effective application and quality control of pesticide products/formulations for public health use. WHOPES develops specifications for pesticides and application equipment for use in international trade and quality control. 

Static laboratory tests and dynamic laboratory methods, with the formulation alone and in combination with other pesticides, may be used to predict compatibility or to identify potential problems. These data may then be related to testing in actual field application equipment. Due to the differences in application equipment and in actual use practices, these data are not absolute but are predictive and are most useful in avoiding problems in the field. 

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