Abstract
The pesticides belong to a category of chemicals used worldwide as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, ro-denticides, molluscicides, nematicides, and plant growth regulators in order to control weeds, pests and dis-eases in crops as well as for health care of humans and animals. The positive aspect of application of pesti-cides renders enhanced crop/food productivity and drastic reduction of vector-borne diseases. However, their unregulated and indiscriminate applications have raised serious concerns about the entire environment in general and the health of humans, birds and animals in particular. Despite ban on application of some of the environmentally persistent and least biodegradable pesticides (like organochlorines) in many countries, their use is ever on rise. Pesticides cause serious health hazards to living systems because of their rapid fat solu-bility and bioaccumulation in non-target organisms. Even at low concentration, pesticides may exert several adverse effects, which could be monitored at biochemical, molecular or behavioral levels. The factors af-fecting water pollution with pesticides and their residues include drainage, rainfall, microbial activity, soil temperature, treatment surface, application rate as well as the solubility, mobility and half life of pesticides. In India organochlorine insecticides such as DDT and HCH constitute more than 70% of the pesticides used at present. Reports from Delhi, Bhopal and other cities and some rural areas have indicated presence of sig-nificant level of pesticides in fresh water systems as well as bottled drinking mineral water samples. The ef-fects of pesticides pollution in riverine systems and drinking water in India has been discussed in this review.
Highlights
Water that flows across the surface, whether from rain, irrigation, or other water released onto the surface, always flows downhill until it meets with a barrier, a body of water, or begins to percolate into the soil
Pesticides have contaminated almost every part of our environment as pesticide residues are found in soil and air, and in surface and groundwater across the nation, and urban pesticide uses contribute to the problem
Pesticide contamination poses significant risks to the environment and non-target organisms ranging from beneficial soil microorganisms to insects, plants, fish, and birds
Summary
All water pollution affects organisms and plants that live in these water bodies and in almost all cases the effect is damaging to the individual species and populations and to the natural biological communities. The pesticides are designed and developed keeping in view killing the insects-pests in general and they are not species specific Their application methodologies are designed to ensure that these chemicals come in contact with the target pests to kill them avoiding the non-target organisms. Well-planned applications of materials, such as pesticides, the risk to humans and other animals is minimal If these products enter the water system, they may reach non- target animals and pose a hazard to the lives of other animals (including humans and domestic animals) and non-target plants. Keeping the seriousness of pesticides contamination in water systems and its impact on humans and animals in addition to the environment, an endeavor has been made in the present review to compile and project the current information available on this issue with special reference to India
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