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Things you can do to reduce pesticide use in Washington waters.
If you live on a lake with invasive aquatic vegetation, there are many available and effective non-toxic methods of controlling these plants. For more information about some of these options, see our Non-Toxic Lakes page.
If your lake has been treated with aquatic herbicides, or if there are plans to do so, your first step is to educate yourself about what exactly is growing in your lake, what non-toxic control methods are available, what pesticides have or will be used, and who is making the decision to use chemicals.
You can learn more about the hazards of different aquatic herbicides at the following websites, or by contacting WTC.
So, who decides to use aquatic herbicides? If you live in a community with a local association that includes all of the areas around the lake, that group may be the body choosing if and how to manage aquatic plants. In that case, contacting that organization and meeting with them to discuss your concerns and the available non-toxic options is a good place to begin.
However, if it is a neighbor or individual property owner that is choosing to use aquatic herbicides, you will need to approach them individually to discuss your concerns and encourage them to move to non-toxic controls. While this factsheet is not written specifically for aquatic situations, for some tips on how to talk with your neighbors about pesticides, see our factsheet here.
To read about one community's work to convince their neighbors to use non-toxic aquatic vegetation methods, see our Portage Bay page.
For questions or further assistance, you can contact WTC at info@watoxics.org or 206-632-1545.
