Dissipation of 2,4-D glyphosate and paraquat in river water

Abstract

Dissipation of herbicides in river water was determined by adding different concentrations of 2,4-D, glyphosate and paraquat to samples of river water. A small variation of dissipation of radioactivity for14C-2,4-D in higher and lower concentrations and in different samples of river water was found. But about half the radioactivity disappeared from water samples of original glyphosate concentration at 100 mg L−1 and, in the case of 100 μg L−1, only 11 to 22% remained in the samples of river water after 56 d incubation except the sample from Hsin-Tien River. More than 80% of paraquat remained in water samples. Determination of octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow) showed a large difference in amounts of 2,4-D partitioned in water phase at different pH values, 97.4% at the higher pH of ionic state and 5.2% at the lower pH of molecular state, implying that pH value of water might affect the bioaccumulation process of 2,4-D. The result showed that 95.0% of glyphosate present in water phase in ionic form (higher pH) and 82.3% in molecular form (lower pH), indicating that glyphosate might have no affect on the biomagnification, since most of glyphosate could be excreted with water by organisms.