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The contamination of water with pesticides used in agriculture and urban areas is a priority issue that is currently of global concern. In 2015, the European Union (EU) published the first Watch List (1st WL), which showed the necessity for Union‐wide monitoring of ten organic substances/groups of substances in the field of water policy. The list includes, among other items, eight pesticides: five neonicotinoids (acetamiprid, clothianidin, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam), and methiocarb, oxadiazon, and tri‐allate. In 2018 the EU published the second Watch List, which repealed the 1st WL. In this list, among other changes, one pesticide (metaflumizone) was added, and two (oxadiazon and tri‐allate) were removed. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge on the reported occurrence and concentrations of these pesticides in surface and groundwaters and in effluents from wastewater treatment plants derived from 73 studies in 21 countries worldwide. Imidacloprid, acetamiprid and thiamethoxam were the most frequently found pesticides due to their widespread use, while metaflumizone, methiocarb, oxadiazon, and tri‐allate are less studied pesticides whose occurrence in water is also poorly reported. More investigation is needed to assess the occurrence and impact of these pesticides on the aquatic environment worldwide in the context of water supply and human security.

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The aim of the study was to compare the two reference methods for the determination of boron in water samples and further assess the impact of the method of preparation of samples for analysis on the results obtained. Samples were collected during different desalination processes, ultrafiltration and the double reverse osmosis system, connected in series. From each point, samples were prepared in four different ways: the first was filtered (through a membrane filter of 0.45 μm) and acidified (using 1 mL ultrapure nitric acid for each 100 mL of samples) (FA), the second was unfiltered and not acidified (UFNA), the third was filtered but not acidified (FNA), and finally, the fourth was unfiltered but acidified (UFA). All samples were analysed using two analytical methods: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The results obtained were compared and correlated, and the differences between them were studied. The results show that there are statistically significant differences between the concentrations obtained using the ICP-MS and ICP-OES techniques regardless of the methods of sampling preparation (sample filtration and preservation). Finally, both the ICP-MS and ICP-OES methods can be used for determination of the boron concentration in water. The differences in the boron concentrations obtained using these two methods can be caused by several high-level concentrations in selected whole-water digestates and some matrix effects. Higher concentrations of iron (from 1 to 20 mg/L) than chromium (0.02–1 mg/L) in the samples analysed can influence boron determination. When iron concentrations are high, we can observe the emission spectrum as a double joined and overlapping peak.

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The article presents the results of the research carried out in order to assess the possibility of using surface water of the Bystrytsya-Nadvirnyans'ka River in Cherniiv (western Ukraine), for the public supply of water intended for human consumption. For this purpose an existing database that contains the results of analyses of surface water samples collected in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2014 was used. Each year, from 8 to 13 samples were collected from the BystrytsyaNadvirnyans'ka River in Cherniiv. Physicochemical analyses of the samples taken included the determination of pH value, temperature, TDS, alkalinity, hardness, dissolved oxygen, BOD 5 The results of the analyses were referred to the polish applicable requirements for surface water used for public supply of water intended for human consumption and to the regulation regarding the classification of the surface water status and environmental quality standards for priority substances. The results indicate that water of the Bystrytsya-Nadvirnyans'ka River in the area of Cherniiv was out of the class in the years 1999 and 2002 due to exceeding the limit values for category A3 for Cu 2+ . On the basis of incomplete assessment of the status of the BystrytsyaNadvirnyans'ka River water (due to the tests limitation to the physical and chemical components) determined that the water has a bad status because it exceeded the limits for class II for Cl -, SO 4 2-, NO 3 -and TDS. In the samples collected in 1999 and 2002 it is also observed exceeding the maximum limit concentrations for Cu 2+ .

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