自1964年以来，美国农田使用了大约210亿磅杀虫剂。在农业地区，由于春季径流或淋滤，地表水和地下水中农药浓度较高。由于这些化合物中有许多对健康构成威胁，美国环境保护局（USEPA）根据1986年《安全饮用水法案修正案》的规定，有权监管其中的几种化合物。其他人将接受全国农药调查。为了了解可能存在的合规问题，对含有甲草胺、阿特拉津、氰嗪、利努龙、异丙甲草胺、甲草净和西马嗪的河水进行了调查。 这项研究的目的是确定在俄亥俄州蒂芬水处理厂，反渗透等几种处理工艺能够在多大程度上去除桑达斯基河中的农药。此外，还进行了中试规模的研究，使用几种不同类型的聚合物膜去除地下水中的农药。

Approximately 21 billion pounds of pesticides have been applied to United States farmlands since 1964. In agricultural regions, high pesticide concentrations occur in surface and groundwaters because of spring runoff or leaching. Because many of these compounds pose health risks, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has a mandate, under the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments of 1986, to regulate several of these compounds. Others will be undergoing the National Pesticide Survey. In an attempt to understand possible compliance problems, an investigation was conducted on river water containing Alachlor, Atrazine, Cyanazine, Linuron, Metolachlor, Metribuzin, and Simazine. The purpose of the study was to determine to what extent several treatment processes such as reverse osmosis were able to remove pesticides from the Sandusky River at the Tiffin, Ohio Water Treatment Plant. In addition pilot scale studies were conducted using several different types of polymeric membranes to remove pesticides from spiked groundwater.