Organochlorine Pesticides in the Surface Waters from Sharda River Region, Uttar Pradesh-India

Abstract

This study reports the concentration levels and distribution patterns of the 21 organochlorine pesticide residues in the surface water of Sharda river region in Lakhimpur kheeri, Uttar Pradesh-India. Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) is used for the extraction of organochlorine pesticide residues in water sample. In all samples pesticide residues were analyzed by GC (Shimadzu 2010) with Ni63 ECD detector. The residues were further confirmed on Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer-Quadrupole on Electron Ionization (EI) mode. The most commonly encountered Organochlorine pesticides in surface water were dieldrin, heptachlor epoxide, isomers of hexachlorocyclohexane and DDT. In some cases the concentrations detected were higher than the quanlitative target levels set by the European Union, especially for γ-hexachlorocyclohexane & pp’-DDT. The concentration levels found are lower than the EU maximum acceptable concentration of 0.10 μg l-1 for all compounds examined, except for δ-HCH in seven samples (0.2772, 0.1950, 0.2210, 0.2045, 0.1994, 0.1523, 0.1390 μg l-1) and four samples (0.1877, 0.2365, 0.1478, 0.1269 μg l-1) of pp’-DDT during 2008-2010. The occurrence of these compounds in Sharda river region surface waters can be attributed to intense agricultural activity as well as to transboundary pollution.