Edmonton, Alberta-As a means of protecting downstream water quality in urban areas, weed and feed lawn products popular with home owners will not be sold in Alberta starting Jan.1, 2010, according to the province’s environmental ministry. “We need to take steps wherever possible to protect and preserve the quality of Alberta’s rivers and lakes,” declared Environment Minister Rob Renner. “This is a simple measure that Albertans can take to curb the amount of chemicals entering our water by our eliminating products that encourage mass application and reducing the amount of chemical runoff in our waterways.” Renner said that the combination has been found to be highly mobile and commonly appears in water downstream of municipalities, occurring when excess chemical runs off lawns into storm drainage systems and is deposited into creeks and rivers. In some cases, he added, more than 10 times the required amount of pesticide is applied to lawns when weed and feed is used. He said the decision to ban weed and feed will not impact the agriculture sector or the landscaping industry since these products are almost exclusively used on homeowners’ lawns. The weed and feed ban is viewed as a proactive measure by the province since the current average amount of 2,4-D in surface water downstream of Alberta municipalities is below the recommended federal threshold. Regulation of pesticide use is typically the responsibility of Health Canada’s pest management regulatory agency.
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