OCCURRENCE OF PESTICIDES IN GROUND WATER OF THE OZARK PLATEAUS PROVINCE¹

Abstract

Pesticides were detected in ground-water samples collected from 20 springs and nine wells in the Ozark Plateaus Province of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. From April through September 1993, water samples were collected from 50 shallow domestic wells and 50 springs in the Springfield Plateau and Ozark aquifers and analyzed for 47 pesticides and metabolites. Pesticides were detected in 17 water samples from the Springfield Plateau aquifer and 12 water samples from the Ozark aquifer. Fourteen pesticides were detected, with a maximum of four pesticides detected in any one sample. The most commonly detected pesticides were atrazine (14 detections), prometon (11 detections), and tebuthiuron (seven detections). P,P' DDE, a metabolite of DDT, was detected in water samples from three wells and one spring. The remaining pesticides were detected in three or less samples. The occurrence and distribution of pesticides probably are related to the local land use near a sampling site. Pesticide detections were significantly related to aquifer, site type, and discharge of springs. (KEY WORDS: Ozark Plateaus; water quality; hydrogeology; pesticides; agricultural land use; karst.)

Base flow hydrology and water quality of an Ozarks spring and associated recharge area, southern Missouri, USA

“…They concluded that agricultural land uses were responsible for the variability in the concentrations of nutrients and occurrence of pesticides in the regional ground water supply (Adamski and Pugh 1996;Adamski 1997). Ground water quality and surface water quality in the Ozarks tend to be linked by karst networks so that one is always affecting the other (Petersen et al 1998).…”

Occurrence and distribution of nitrate and selected pesticides in ground water in Missouri, 1986-94

“…Pesticides were detected at 17 sites (23 percent), with atrazine as the most frequently detected pesticide (10 sites, 13.5 percent). Prometon was detected at seven sites (9.5 percent; Adamski and Pugh, 1996). The pesticide detections were significantly related to aquifer type and spring discharge.…”

“…Descriptions of the selection, sampling methods, analytical methods, and quality-assurance procedures for sites sampled by the USGS are described in a series of reports Ziegler andothers, 1993,1994;Wilkison and Maley, 1994;Adamski and Pugh, 1996). Selection, sampling, analytical, and quality-assurance criteria for the remaining sites are detailed in Sievers and Fulhage (1992).…”

Contaminação de águas subterrâneas por pesticidas: avaliação preliminar

“…A atividade agrícola, especialmente o uso de pesticidas, é considerada uma das atividades mais difíceis de ser avaliada, uma vez que o comportamento dos diversos pesticidas utilizados é ainda pouco conhecido em subsuperfície e sua aplicação é ampla e efetuada em baixas concentrações. Embora a maior preocupação devido a essa atividade seja a contaminação por fertilizantes inorgânicos, nitrato principalmente, a literatura tem apresentado trabalhos que relatam a presença de diversas classes de pesticidas em água subterrânea [19][20][21] . Sendo assim, mais atenção deve ser destinada a essas substâncias que são utilizadas em larga escala na agricultura 11 .…”