Global distribution of pesticides in freshwater resources and their remediation approaches

Sandeep Singh; Meenakshi Rawat; Sandeep K Malyan; Rajesh Singh; Vinay Kumar Tyagi; Kaptan Singh; Sujata Kashyap; Sumant Kumar; Manish Sharma; B K Panday; R P Pandey

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.115605

Global distribution of pesticides in freshwater resources and their remediation approaches

Environ Res. 2023 May 15:225:115605. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.115605. Epub 2023 Mar 5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India.
² Environmental Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India; Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Kansas, 66506, USA.
³ Department of Environmental Studies, Dyal Singh Evening College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 110003, India.
⁴ Environmental Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India. Electronic address: rsingh.nihr@gov.in.
⁵ Environmental Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India; Civil Engineering Department, Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, 273010, India.
⁶ Axa Parenteral Limited, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India.
⁷ Groundwater Hydrology Division, National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, 247667, India.
⁸ Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, JLN Marg, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 302004, India.
⁹ State Water and Sanitation Mission, Government of Uttarakhand, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248002, India.

PMID: 36871947
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.115605

Abstract

The role of pesticides in enhancing global agricultural production is magnificent. However, their unmanaged use threatens water resources and individual health. A significant pesticide concentration leaches to groundwater or reaches surface waters through runoff. Water contaminated with pesticides may cause acute or chronic toxicity to impacted populations and exert adverse environmental effects. It necessitates the monitoring and removing pesticides from water resources as prime global concerns. This work reviewed the global occurrences of pesticides in potable water and discussed the conventional and advanced technologies for the removal of pesticides. The concentration of pesticides highly varies in freshwater resources across the globe. The highest concentration of α-HCH (6.538 μg/L, at Yucatan, Mexico), lindane (6.08 μg/L at Chilka lake, Odisha, India), 2,4, DDT (0.90 μg/L, at Akkar, Lebanon), chlorpyrifos (9.1 μg/L, at Kota, Rajasthan, India), malathion (5.3 μg/L, at Kota, Rajasthan, India), atrazine (28.0 μg/L, at Venado Tuerto City, Argentina), endosulfan (0.78 μg/L, at Yavtmal, Maharashtra, India), parathion (4.17 μg/L, at Akkar, Lebanon), endrin (3.48 μg/L, at KwaZuln-Natl Province, South Africa) and imidacloprid (1.53 μg/L, at Son-La province, Vietnam) are reported. Pesticides can be significantly removed through physical, chemical, and biological treatment. Mycoremediation technology has the potential for up to 90% pesticide removal from water resources. Complete removal of the pesticides through a single biological treatment approach such as mycoremediation, phytoremediation, bioremediation, and microbial fuel cells is still a challenging task, however, the integration of two or more biological treatment approaches can attain complete removal of pesticides from water resources. Physical methods along with oxidation methods can be employed for complete removal of pesticides from drinking water.

Keywords: Biological treatment techniques; Chemical treatments techniques; Pesticides; Physical treatment techniques; Wastewater.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Drinking Water* / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Fresh Water
India
Pesticides* / analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Pesticides
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Drinking Water