Comparison of pesticide residues in surface water and ground water of agriculture intensive areas

The organochlorines (oclps) and organophosphates (opps) pesticides in surface and ground water having intensiveagriculture activity were investigated to evaluate their potential pollution and risks on human health. as per usepa8081 b method, liquid-liquid extraction followed by gas-chromatographic technique with electron capture detectorand mass selective detector (gc-ms) were used for monitoring of pesticides. among organochlorines, ?,b,?,? hch’s,aldrin, dicofol, ddt and its derivatives, ?,b endosulphan’s and endosulphan-sulphate were analysed; dichlorovos,ethion, parathion-methyl, phorate, chlorpyrifos and profenofos were determined among organophosphates.as compared to ground water, higher concentrations of oclps and opps were found in surface water. throughoutthe monitoring study, ? ? hch (0.39 ?g/l in amravati region),? ? endosulphan (0.78 ?g/l in yavatmal region),chlorpyrifos (0.25 ?g/l in bhandara region) and parathion-methyl (0.09 ?g/l in amravati region) are frequentlyfound pesticide in ground water, whereas ?,b,?-hch (0.39 ?g/l in amravati region), ?,b ? endosulphan (0.42 ?g/l inamravati region), dichlorovos (0.25 ?g/l in yavatmal region), parathion-methyl (0.42 ?g/l in bhandara region),phorate (0.33 ?g/l in yavatmal region) were found in surface water.surface water was found to be more contaminated than ground water with more number of and moreconcentrated pesticides. among pesticides water samples are found to be more contaminated byorganophosphate than organochlorine. pesticides in the surface water samples from bhandara and yavatmal regionexceeded the eu (european union) limit of 1.0 ?g/l (sum of pesticide levels in surface water) but were within thewho guidelines for individual pesticides.