Seasonal distribution of multiclass pesticide residues in the surface waters of northwest Croatia

• Published in: Arhiv za higijenu rada i toksikologiju Vol. 72; no. 4; pp. 280 - 288
• Main Authors: Fingler, Sanja, Mendaš, Gordana, Dvoršćak, Marija, Stipičević, Sanja, Vasilić, Želimira, Drevenkar, Vlasta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Croatia Sciendo 30-12-2021; Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health
• Subjects: Arrays; Croatia; degradation products; Environmental health; Environmental impact; Environmental Monitoring; Gas chromatography; Herbicides; herbicidi; High performance liquid chromatography; insecticides; insekticidi; Ions; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Original; ostaci pesticida; Pesticide application; Pesticide pollution; Pesticide Residues; Pesticides; Pesticides - analysis; Population density; razgradni produkti; Residues; riječna voda; river water; Rivers; Rural areas; Seasonal distribution; seasonal variations; Seasons; sezonske varijacije; Solid phases; Spectroscopy; Stream pollution; Surface water; Urban agriculture; Water analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water sampling; Croatia; Italy; Slovenia; United States > US; Germany; ostaci pesticida; riječna voda; razgradni produkti; degradation products; river water; insekticidi; pesticide residues; herbicidi; insecticides; sezonske varijacije; seasonal variations; herbicides
• ISSN: 1848-6312; 0004-1254; 1848-6312
• DOI: 10.2478/aiht-2021-72-3598

As part of our OPENTOX project, we evaluated the incidence and mass concentrations of multiclass pesticide residues in 23 river/stream water samples collected in urban and agricultural areas of northwest Croatia at various points of the pesticide application season in 2015. The study included 16 compounds of five herbicide classes and seven compounds of three insecticide classes. Pesticide residues were accumulated from water by solid-phase extraction and analysed using high performance liquid chromatography with UV-diode array detection and/or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Herbicide residues were more common than the insecticide ones, and, as expected, they peaked in the middle of the application season. Metolachlor showed the highest concentrations and was found in 91 % of all samples, followed by terbuthylazine, found in 70 % of the samples. The highest total mass concentration of detected pesticides was measured in the water samples of the Krapina (3992 ng/L) and Sutla (3455 ng/L) collected in rural areas with intensive agriculture. Our findings strongly speak in favour of continued monitoring of surface waters and possibly extending the list of priority water pollutants.