Aquatic Herbicides

Aquatic Herbicides for Lakes and Ponds

Aquatic herbicides are used to reduce the abundance of invasive species to reduce spread to new water bodies, to help maintain a healthy native plant community that is beneficial for fish and other aquatic organisms, to improve navigational access to lakes and rivers and make boat navigation safer, and to control nuisance plant and algae growth that can pose a hazard to swimmers.

The amount of time an herbicide will stay in the water varies greatly based on a number of different factors, including the type of herbicide used. Residues may only be present in the water for a few hours, or for as long as a few months. Each herbicide has different characteristics that affect where the chemical moves (e.g. if it stays in the water column or settles into the sediment), how it is broken down, and how long it can be detected in water, sediments, and aquatic organisms. For more information on the environmental fate of a particular herbicide, please see the following:

Forestry Distributing Knowledge Base 

Biology and Control of Aquatic Plants 
EPA Signal Word Definitions

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources individual chemical fact sheets: