title: Monitoring and risk assessment of pesticides in irrigation systems in Debra Zeit, Ethiopia.
abstract: Since Ethiopia is going through a rapid transformation of its agricultural sector, we assessed the human health and environmental risks due to the past use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) as well as the risks of the current pesticide use by farmers. A monitoring programme and risk assessment was carried out for the Wedecha-Belbela irrigation system in the Debra Zeit area. The Wedecha and Belbela rivers and adjacent temporary ponds were sampled and examined for the presence of OCPs between August and October 2014, while data on the current pesticide use by small- and large-scale farmers was collected by interviews. The usage patterns were evaluated for risks of using the river or temporary ponds as source of drinking water and for risks for the aquatic ecosystems in the river and ponds with the aid of the PRIMET_Registration_Ethiopa_1.1 model. The samples were collected in five sampling periods, and results indicate that most of the 18 target OCPs were not detected above the detection limit, while g-chlordane may pose chronic risks when surface water is used as drinking water. Endosulfan and heptachlor pose risks to aquatic organisms at second-tier level, while for heptachlor-epoxide B, g-chlordane and b-BHC only risks could be determined at the first tier due to a lack of data. For all nine pesticides used by small-scale farmers the calculated acute risks to humans were low. Second tier risk assessment for the aquatic ecosystem indicated that lambda-cyhalothrin, endosulfan, profenofos, and diazinon may pose high risks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; The College of Natural Sciences, University of Addis Ababa, 4 Kilo campus, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Berhan M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Teklu
authors.affiliation: Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paulien I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Adriaanse
authors.affiliation: Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: paul.vandenbrink@wur.nl.
authors.forename: Paul J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Van den Brink
mesh_terms: D057914:Agricultural Irrigation; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000187:drug effects*; D004726:Endosulfan / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005002:Ethiopia; D006533:Heptachlor / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D009570:Nitriles / Q000032:analysis; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D011722:Pyrethrins / Q000032:analysis; D018570:Risk Assessment; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D009570:Nitriles; D010575:Pesticides; D011722:Pyrethrins; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D006533:Heptachlor; D004726:Endosulfan; C037304:cyhalothrin
keywords: Chemical monitoring; OCPs; PRIMET_Registration_Ethiopa_1.1; Risk assessment