title: Pesticides and their metabolites in selected Italian groundwater and surface water used for drinking.
abstract: The control of groundwater and surface water quality in relation to the presence of pesticides and their metabolites is a rather complicated task. National and local authorities with the responsibility to guarantee an adequate quality of water cannot rely on international guidelines for monitoring activities. In a national project, forty-three pesticides and pesticide metabolites were selected on the basis of sale, monitoring and physical-chemical data, and investigated from some of the main Italian agricultural areas, susceptible to pesticide contamination. Twelve compounds were found in the tested water samples at levels exceeding the 0.1 µg/L European Union (EU) limit for drinking water (European Directive 98/83/EC). Maximum levels up to 0.62 were determined. Several water samples were characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of pesticides and their metabolites (up to ten). In some samples, the total concentration of pesticides and their metabolites was higher than the EU limit of 0.5 µg/L. Total triazine concentrations up to 1.02 µg/L were found. In all the cases the highest concentrations were well below the respective guideline values defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) for drinking water quality.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Ambiente e Connessa Prevenzione Primaria, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. luca.fava@iss.it
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fava
authors.forename: Maria Antonietta
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Orrù
authors.forename: Simona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Scardala
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alonzo
authors.forename: Maristella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fardella
authors.forename: Caterina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Strumia
authors.forename: Angiolo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martinelli
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finocchiaro
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Previtera
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Franchi
authors.forename: Piergiuseppe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Calà
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dovis
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bartoli
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sartori
authors.forename: Lia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Broglia
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Funari
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D007558:Italy; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D012275:Oryza; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis*; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical