Chautauqua Lake: Pesticides And Herbicides

Chautauqua Lake Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Chautauqua Lake The controversy about the lake weed control is in the application of the Navigate herbicide. The Department of Environmental Conservation seeks to apply the herbicide to control the overgrown weeds in the Chautauqua Lake. The public and the biologists are concerned about the application of the herbicide since it is associated with severe health hazards to both the aquatic life and human beings. The herbicide to be used is known as Navigate whose contents are carcinogenic. Such exposure means that any person living within the surrounding of the lake will be exposed to potential dangers of exposure to cancer-causing agents. The chemical also has a half-life of 15 days which says that the herbicide chemical contents will remain in the water for several weeks (Nault et al. 2013). Those who visit the lake will be exposed to potential risks also because the chemical causes allergies when the skin comes into contact with it. Also, the Navigate herbicide can also contaminate the groundwater which means that it will end up in the human body after consumption. Doses of Navigate are suspected of causing severe endocrine disruptions. Another controversy arises from the effectiveness of the use of the herbicide to kill the weed on the lake shores. The use of the pesticides and the herbicides in the water affects the environment negatively by killing the aquatic animals. Most of the water animals including the fish, the unique crustaceans and the mollusks found in the Chautauqua Lake will be exposed to the chemicals and eventually die. The effect means the ecological balance will be disrupted in the region where the lake is situated. The department of the environmental control in collaboration with the Chautauqua Lake intends to remove the bad odour that has been disturbing the residents. The bad smell is as a result of the algae bloom and not the weeds along the lake. That means that the use of the pesticide and the herbicide use is counterproductive (Nault et al. 2013). The dead and decaying plant matter will provide ...