Evaluation of pesticide contamination in the water sources of southwest Parana cities

Abstract

Currently, several researchers have been warning about problems caused by using pesticides in Brazil and in the World. Nevertheless, more and more of these compounds are used to control the integrity of crops. It is the case of most of the cities in Southwestern region of Paraná, a region that is mainly agricultural. The present study monitors 29 pesticides in water resources from five cities of the region. The method employed for determination was previously published, which is routinely applied at the laboratory. Eight compounds were quantified in the evaluated waters: atrazine, epoxyconazole, fipronil, iprodione, malathion, penoxsulam, simazine and tebuconazole, and the concentrations were 0.005 to 1.0 μg L-1. The evaluation of contamination of the water sources chosen by pesticides is a pioneer study, since there is no monitoring data available on the region.