Department of Pesticide Regulation Brian Leahy Edmund G. Brown Jr. Director Governor Pesticide Air Monitoring at Rio Mesa High School December 2014 The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR), with the assistance of the California. Air Resources Board (ARB), is monitoring for pesticides in air at Rio Mesa High School. DPR is part of the California Environmental. Protection Agency and together with county agricultural commissioners, it regulates all sales and use of pesticide products in the state. As part of the continuous evaluation of pesticides required by state law, DPR monitors pesticide concentrations in water, food, and air. What pesticides are being monitored? DPR and ARB are monitoring for two pesticides: 1,3?dichloropropene and methyl bromide. in the Oxnard area, and methyl bromide are most commonly injected into the soil of agricultural ?elds prior to planting strawberries in the late summer and early fall for the control of weeds, insects, and plant diseases. and methyl bromide are fumigant pesticides so they are applied in higher amounts and are more volatile than most other pesticides. Steps are taken to keep them in the soil, but some emits to the air. What is being done to protect people from fumigant use in nearby ?elds? All pesticides have legal requirements that specify methods of application, how much can be applied, safety precautions, and other use restrictions. Many of these requirements are speci?ed on pesticide product labels by the US. Environmental Protection Agency. DPR and county agricultural commissioners require extra protections for people working or living near and methyl bromide applications including application method restrictions, worker restrictions, buffer zones, timing restrictions, wind speed and direction considerations, and limits on amounts applied. Why monitor at Rio Mesa High School? DPR and ARE routinely monitor at various locations throughout the state, for various pesticides. The main purpose of the monitoring at Rio Mesa High School is to measure the effectiveness of the legal requirements for and methyl bromide, particularly the additional restrictions DPR and county agricultural commissioners require. Rio Mesa High School is one of six locations in the state where DPR and ARB are monitoring and methyl bromide. Rio Mesa High School is located in an area of high use for l,3?D and methyl bromide, so it is a good location to monitor to confirm that the level and methods of use of these fumigants are acceptable. Monitoring at Rio Mesa High School began in January 2012 and is scheduled to end in December 2015. How does the monitoring work? Monitoring at Rio Mesa High School began on January 1, 2012, and consists of air collected in a stainless steel canister for a 24-hour period every six days. Air Resources Board staff places and picks up the canisters at Rio Mesa High School, and transports them to Sacramento for laboratory analysis by ARB staff. While individual samples are 24 hours in duration, the monitoring is designed to measure concentrations over several weeks and months. DPR calculates the average of several samples to estimate the 4?week and 1-year air concentrations. To estimate the potential health risk, the air concentrations are compared to health screening levels or regulatory target concentrations for 1?day, 4?week, 1?year, and lifetime periods. Health screening levels are triggers for DPR to conduct a more detailed evaluation. Regulatory target concentrations 1001 lStreet PO. Box 4015 a Sacramento, California 958134015 A Department of the California Environmental Protection Agency Printed on recyo?ed paper. 100% post-consumernprocessed chlorine-free. are goals for legal requirements that are established after a complete assessment of possible health risks. Exceeding a regulatory target concentration indicates that the requirements may need to be modi?ed. What are the results of the monitoring? DPR recently published the results for the monitoring in 2013, including the results for Rio Mesa High School. As shown in the table below, l,3~D and methyl bromide concentrations at Rio Mesa High School were less than regulatory targets and screening levels for 1-day, 4-week, and 1?year periods, indicating a low health risk for these time periods. Highest air concentrations in parts per billion (ppb) detected at Rio Mesa High School during 2010?2013. Hi hest Pesticide Monitoring Concegntration Screening Level (pph) Regulatory Target (ppb) Period Detected (pph) 20l2 2013 1 day 6.40 3.00 35 Not Applicable l,3?D 4 weeks 1.42 1.03 25 Not Applicable 1 year 0.19 0.17 25 Not Applicable 1 day 3.40 0.17 Not Applicable 2l0 Methyl Bromide 4 weeks 0.78 0.05 Not Applicable 5 1 year 0.09 0.06 1 Not Applicable may cause cancer, but methyl bromide does not. The risk of cancer is based on the average air concentration for a lifetime. For Rio Mesa High School, the overall average concentration for during the two years of monitoring was 0.17 ppb. l,3?D regulatory goal is not to exceed 0.14 as an average for a. 70?year lifetime. Assuming the 2?year average accurately represents a 70~year lifetime, the cancer risk from 1,3 -D has exceeded the regulatory target. What is DPR doing to reduce the risk from 1,34)? Due to the concentration at Rio Mesa High School and other monitoring sites exceeding the regulatory target, DPR has taken action to reduce exposure. requirements include a limit on the amount of applied by region and year. However, in the past DPR had approved exceptions to the limit in several cases, including exceptions to the limit for the Rio Mesa" High School region. DPR suspended approval of all exceptions to the limit in February 2014. DPR greatly appreciates the support and cooperation of the administration, staff, and students of the Oxnard Union High School District and Rio Mesa High School. Additional information is available at the following Web sites: Complete report on the monitoring <11 tip . cdprea gov/ti easternon/a i ri is" ,3 {Elwin etliy hrom its . pd information on recognizing and reporting pesticide problems