Abstract
Aiming to evaluate the contamination of groundwater by pesticides in cotton growing areas, an SPE-based method (styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer - SDVB) was developed for the simultaneous determination of twelve pesticides in water by HPLC/DAD. The method was validated and average recoveries ranged from 73 to 113%, with a relative standard deviation of 2 to 16%. Detection limits ranged from 0.06 to 0.57 µg L-1. The method was applied to groundwater samples (110) from cotton fields located in Primavera do Leste, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Eight pesticides (acetamiprid, aldicarb, carbendazin, carbofuran, diuron, imidacloprid, methomyl and teflubenzuron) were found in the analyzed groundwater samples and 18% of them contained at least one of the pesticides (with concentrations ranging from 0.78 to 68.79 µg L-1). In some cases, detected concentrations exceeded the target levels set by the European Union. These findings confirm the vulnerability of shallow groundwater in the aforementioned areas to pesticide contamination.
Highlights
The state of Mato Grosso is very rich in water resources
The objective of this study was to adapt, optimize and validate a multiresidue method for simultaneously determining the following pesticides used in cotton cultures: lufenuron, azoxystrobin, thiamethoxan, teflubenzuron, carbofuran, diafenthiuron, thiacloprid, imidacloprid, aldicarb, carbendazin, diuron, acetamiprid, methomyl and triflumuron, aiming to analyze groundwater from monitoring wells located in cotton plantations in the region of “Primavera do Leste”, using solid-phase extraction followed by HPLC-photodiode array detection (DAD)
The solid-phase extraction (SPE)-based methodology developed here allows the simultaneous determination of 12 pesticides with different polarities by HPLC/DAD in water samples from agricultural areas
Summary
The state of Mato Grosso is very rich in water resources. The headwaters of many of the major rivers of three important hydrographic basins (Pantanal, Amazon and Araguaia) are located in Mato Grosso. The region of “Primavera do Leste” (state of Mato Grosso, centralwestern Brazil) is characterized by intensive farming with monoculture plantations, whose production has expanded greatly since its beginnings 30 years ago. The monoculture system under which cotton is grown has led to its susceptibility to pest attacks, which are prevented. After their application, pesticide residues may remain in crops, soil and surface and groundwater and constitute a health risk because of their toxicity.[2,3,4] This problem is greater in areas where aquifers constitute the main source of drinking water for the population, a characteristic of the Determination of Pesticides Multiresidues in Shallow Groundwater in a Cotton-growing Region
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