Distribution Characteristics and Risk Assessment of 57 Pesticides in Farmland Soil and the Surrounding Water

Abstract

To investigate the effect of pesticide use on surface water, the concentration and distribution characteristics of 57 pesticides and 3 degradation products were analyzed in the farmland soil and surface water in the Xingkai Lake area, including water from paddy fields, drainages and the Xingkai Lake, in Heilongjiang Province, China. Forty-three pesticides and three degradation products were detected in farmland soil. In dry field (corn and soybean field) soil, the main detected pesticides were atrazine and acetochlor with mean concentrations of 26.09 ng·g−1 and 49.08 ng·g−1, respectively. In paddy field soil, oxadiazon, mefenacet and chlorpyrifos were the main detected pesticides with mean concentrations of 14.32 ng·g−1, 78.60 ng·g−1 and 20.03 ng·g−1, respectively. In the surrounding water, including water from paddy fields, drainages and Xingkai Lake, the total concentrations of contaminants detected in the water samples ranged from 71.19 ng·L−1 to 10,145.76 ng·L−1. Of the three sampling periods, the mean concentration of contaminants in the water exhibited its peak during the vegetative period. In the analysis of the drainage water, the primary pesticides detected were atrazine, acetochlor and buprofezin with mean concentrations of 354.83 ng·L−1, 109.09 ng·L−1 and 254.56 ng·L−1, respectively. Atrazine, simetryn, buprofezin and isoprothiolane were the main pesticides detected in Xingkai Lake water, with the mean concentrations of 222.35 ng·L−1, 112.76 ng·L−1, 301.87 ng·L−1 and 138.02 ng·L−1, respectively. The concentrations of contaminants could be correlated with drainage, Da Xingkai Lake and Xiao Xingkai Lake water (ρ > 0.8) suggested that the source of these contaminants in drainage and Xingkai Lake water could be the same. The maximum potentially affected fraction (PAF) values of atrazine, chlorpyrifos and prometryn were higher than 5% in Xingkai Lake water, resulting in high ecological risks.

Keywords

• pesticides
• Xingkai Lake
• distribution
• ecological risk assessment
• metabolites