Information on Sonar Aquatic Herbicide

Sonar is one of the key tools we use to manage invasive aquatic species such as Eurasian Milfoil.

Aquatic herbicides are much like the drugs we rely on and consume to maintain our health. They go through years of testing and required an approval from the federal EPA for this use. Products that result in the claims many opponents to treatment bring up (human health impacts, fish kills) do not survive the registration process. Sonar herbicide for example has been cleared by the US EPA and the US Food and Drug Administration to be present in delivered drinking water at up to 150 parts per billion, the treatments proposed for Bonner County will be in the 20 ppb range, well below this established safe level. There are many substances (salt, caffeine, vinegar) that are orders of magnitude more toxic that the Sonar.

This product can be used without any restrictions on water use for swimming, recreation and fishing. Sonar can also be applied over functioning potable water intakes at the rates we normally use to combat Eurasian Milfoil, Brazilian Elodea and Hydrilla. The product has a drinking water tolerance established by the US EPA and FDA of 150 parts per billion and we generally apply it around 10-20 ppb. These treatments are well below the levels that can legally be present in delivered drinking water.

Sonar is a herbicide, it is designed to control plants. As such, treated water in some cases should not be used to irrigation lawns or gardens. When Sonar levels in the treatment area are below 10 ppb, there is no irrigation restriction for most plant species. When using Sonar PR we have found through extensive monitoring that levels seldom or ever reach this irrigation cut off point in large lake systems.

In most of the states we operate in, there is a permit required or recommended that governs the application of the material. We generally post signs and provide other public notification prior to treatments that have specific information on what irrigation restrictions you might face.

For more information on Sonar, go to www.sepro.com and click on the aquatics link. We have also posted a couple of attachments below.

There is a Sonar Label issued and approved by the US EPA.

There is a Sonar Guide published by the manufacturer that provides general information on this product.

There is a Sonar Risk Assessment that discusses the studies done on this material.

There is a Fact Sheet published by the Washington State Department of Health that discusses the use of Sonar in lakes and the potential implications to human health.

Please fee free to download and read any of these documents.

Related Attachments

Risk_Guide.pdf 504KB
Sonar_PR_Label.pdf 44KB
sonar_as_label.pdf 35KB
sonar_guide.pdf 1.21MB
fluridone_fact_sheet.pdf 27KB