Limit Values for Problematic Pesticides

From the Swiss Blue Community VSA – Association of Wastewater and Water Protection Professionals:

VSA demands limit values for particularly problematic pesticide active ingredients.

The Swiss Association of Wastewater and Water Protection Professionals (VSA) welcomes the expansion of the list of substances to include ecotoxicologically based numerical requirements for water quality. This is proposed in the current revision of the Water Protection Ordinance (GSchV). This measure is a logical continuation of the 2020 revision and strengthens the protection of Swiss waters. The VSA also calls for numerical requirements for the problematic substances lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, and foramsulfuron.

Annex 2 of the Water Protection Ordinance (GSchV) is being supplemented with ecotoxicological requirements for seven additional pesticides that reach concentrations in Swiss waters that could be harmful to aquatic life. The Federal Council initiated the partial revision of the Water Protection Ordinance with this wording on November 26, 2025. The deadline for submissions is March 12, 2026.

The Swiss Association for the Protection of Water (VSA) welcomes the revision. However, it strongly criticizes the fact that no limit values are set for the active ingredients lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin, and foramsulfuron. This is unacceptable from a water protection perspective. According to national monitoring programs and cantonal studies, these substances are among the most problematic pesticides in surface waters, causing numerous exceedances of ecotoxicological quality criteria and potentially harming aquatic life.

Without binding limit values, the federal government and the cantons lack the technical and legal basis for the effective enforcement of the Water Protection Act. This contradicts the legal mandate to protect water bodies.

VSA demands limit values for the active ingredients lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin and foramsulfuron

The VSA therefore requests that the three active ingredients lambda-cyhalothrin, deltamethrin and foramsulfuron be included in Annex 2, Section 11, Paragraph 3 of the GSchV and that corresponding ecotoxicological limit values be established.

For dozens of other substances detectable in Swiss waters, well-established ecotoxicological quality criteria already exist. The Swiss Association for the Protection of Water Resources (VSA) therefore considers it necessary to systematically and rapidly expand the list of substances with the corresponding limit values. New substances, ecotoxicological findings, and analytical possibilities require continuous review and expansion of this list so that the Swiss Water Protection Ordinance (GSchV) can fulfill its legal mandate of protecting water resources.

This and more in the latest VSA Newsletter (German)