Determination of pesticides multiresidues in shallow groundwater in a cotton-growing region of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

Aiming to evaluate the contamination of groundwater by pesticides in cotton growing areas, an SPE-based method (styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer - SDVB) was developed for the simultaneous determination of twelve pesticides in water by HPLC/DAD. The method was validated and average recoveries ranged from 73 to 113%, with a relative standard deviation of 2 to 16%. Detection limits ranged from 0.06 to 0.57 mu g L-1. The method was applied to groundwater samples (110) from cotton fields located in "Primavera do Leste", Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Eight pesticides (acetamiprid, aldicarb, carbendazin, carbofuran, diuron, imidacloprid, methomyl and teflubenzuron) were found in the analyzed groundwater samples and 18% of them contained at least one of the pesticides (with concentrations ranging from 0.78 to 68.79 mu g L-1). In some cases, detected concentrations exceeded the target levels set by the European Union. These findings confirm the vulnerability of shallow groundwater in the aforementioned areas to pesticide contamination.