Pesticide pressure and fish farming in barrage pond in Northeastern France Part I: site characterization and water quality

Abstract

There is a strong connection between pond and watershed, due to water supply throughout the fish production cycle. Sites with small pond/big watershed are the most exposed to acute contamination a few days after spraying because water discharges are not diluted.

Using water industry data to assess the metaldehyde pollution problem

“…Koc values are routinely used to describe the mobility of pesticides, and range from less than 100 L/kg to hundreds of thousands, lower values indicate that a substance will be more mobile in the environment. This concurs with monitoring data that have shown losses to waterbodies within 1-4 days of application to land (Calumpang et al 1995;Lazartigues et al, 2012). Degradation in soil varies depending on conditions and reported half-life ranges between 3.17 and 223 days (IPCS 1999;PAN 2010;PPDB 2011;Ma et al 2012).…”

“…Further monitoring of metaldehyde is urgently needed as there are almost no studies assessing its presence in the environment and those that have been undertaken (NFU ; Gillman et al . ; Lazartigues et al ., ) have detected it at extremely high concentrations in waterbodies of almost 10 μg/L, an order of magnitude higher than the EU regulatory limit. This research is therefore needed to determine the severity of the metaldehyde pollution problem, which will then provide a basis for further investigations on fate, effects and management.…”

“…Despite the substance having been in use for around 70 years, this is one of the first studies to measure its presence in rivers. The maximum concentration detected was 2.72 μg/L which is of the same order of magnitude as reported in the few other existing studies that have monitored metaldehyde in waters (NFU ; Lazartigues et al ., ). Despite the very small number of published studies, it appears that metaldehyde represents a very significant water quality concern, having already been found at concentrations as high as other pesticides that have previously been monitored in rivers and deemed to be problematic (Espigares et al .…”

“…Despite metaldehyde having been in use since the 1940s, it is seen as an emerging pollutant (Stuart et al 2012) and the dearth of existing research means that there are still many questions to be answered regarding the compound's environmental occurrence, fate, effects and management. Further monitoring of metaldehyde is urgently needed as there are almost no studies assessing its presence in the environment and those that have been undertaken (NFU 2011;Gillman et al 2012;Lazartigues et al, 2012) have detected it at extremely high concentrations in waterbodies of almost 10 μg/L, an order of magnitude higher than the EU regulatory limit. This research is therefore needed to determine the severity of the metaldehyde pollution problem, which will then provide a basis for further investigations on fate, effects and management.…”

“…This concurs with monitoring data that have shown losses to waterbodies within 1–4 days of application to land (Calumpang et al . ; Lazartigues et al ., ). Degradation in soil varies depending on conditions and reported half‐life ranges between 3.17 and 223 days (IPCS ; PAN ; PPDB ; Ma et al .…”