• About DPR
• Contact Us
• Customer Service Survey
• Join E-Lists

Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions from Pesticides

Back to Environmental Monitoring Branch
Back to Air Program

Subscribe to receive periodic e-mail updates on activities of DPR’s Volatile Organic Compound Program.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which is harmful to human health and vegetation when present at high enough concentrations. The federal Clean Air Act requires each state to submit a State Implementation Plan (SIP) for achieving and maintaining federal ambient air quality standards, including the standard for ozone. Nonattainment areas (NAAs) are regions in California that do not meet either federal or state ambient air quality standards. California’s Air Resources Board (ARB) and DPR developed a plan to track and reduce pesticidal sources of VOCs in NAAs as part of the California SIP to meet the ozone standard. DPR is responsible for agricultural and commercial structural pesticide products, and ARB is responsible for pesticides in consumer products.

• Summary of current activities, PDF (83 kb)
• State Implementation Plan and maps of nonattainment areas
• Tracking pesticide VOC emissions (emission inventory)
  • Procedures used to estimate VOC emissions
  • Emission inventory reports and data
  • Regulatory requirements for VOC emission data
• VOC emissions calculators
  • Fumigant Excel calculator
  • Non-fumigant web calculator
• Reducing pesticide VOC emissions
  • Conservation Management Practices Guide, PDF (431 kb): Reducing Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions from Agricultural Pesticide Applications
  • Regulatory actions to reduce VOC emissions from fumigant pesticides
  • Regulatory requirements for reformulation of non-fumigant pesticides
  • Evaluation of options and recommendations for reducing volatile organic compound emissions from nonfumigant pesticides, PDF. (3.3 Mb)
  • Proposed regulations to reduce volatile organic compounds in the San Joaquin Valley Ozone nonattainment area.
• Research
• Related links
  • Air Resources Board (ARB)
    • Agricultural activities
    • Consumer products program (including home-use pesticides)
  • U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) may provide financial support to growers who use precision pesticide spray technology to reduce VOC emissions

For content questions, contact:
Randy Segawa
1001 I Street, P.O. Box 4015
Sacramento, CA 95812-4015
Telephone: (916) 324-4137
E-mail: rsegawa@cdpr.ca.gov