The Occurrence of Glyphosate and its Degradation Products in the Urban Stormwater: A Short Review

Abstract

Due to urbanisation and industrialisation, water pollution is now one of the major environmental challenges of the twenty-first century. Considering the increasing of agricultural and non-agricultural settings in the last decades, the investigation of the relationship between such pesticides and urban stormwater is critical to understand how urban, residential, and industrialized areas can affect environmental safety. Recently, scientific interest has grown in stormwater chemical characterization with the aim to define its impacts in the environment and possibly to make it potable water. In this context, glyphosate, glufosinate and their degradation products have been identified as the key knowledge gap for the chemical characterization of stormwater. Research investments are needed for a better understanding of the highly polar pesticides to estimate their load, source, and dispersion of urban runoff due to residential use of herbicides. Furthermore, a more comprehensive study of wet and dry deposition and spray drift should be considered for a correct evaluation of source apportionment. Response to Reviewers:Reviewer #1: Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to review your paper. In general I find your work could be a valuable contribution to Water, Air and Soil Pollution journal A: Thank to Reviewer #1 for the comment. 1. Line 86. Add a table with the physical and chemical characteristics of these herbicides (glufosinate, AMPA and glyphosate): vapor pressure, solubility, adsorption coefficient, molecular mass, etc. A: We agree with Reviewer #1, we added a table with the characteristics of each target Powered by Editorial Manager® and ProduXion Manager® from Aries Systems Corporation compound. We also better explain the degradation pathways of glyphosate (lines 83-86) as follows: "Glyphosate degradation processes in soil are mediated by microorganisms producing AMPA, sarcosine, and glycine (Figure 2). The first pathway involves C-N bond oxidation, with a consequent release of AMPA and glyoxylate. Another degradation pathway is possible through sarcosine oxidase, which leads to sarcosine and phosphate formation. Sarcosine is further processed to glycine (van Bruggen et al. 2018)." 2. Line 118. Abbreviations should be given in full name at their first appearance. EFSA? Table 1 LQO?A: Sorry for this. All the abbreviation are now given in full name at their first appearance.3. A variable to discuss would be the flow rate. The authors make this point (peaks line 209-211) but I think this variable needs to be addressed in their discussion of results. It is another variable to study in future research.It must be borne in mind that before studying the behavior of these pollutants, it is necessary to know the behavior of the water flow. A first step would be to apply the concepts of urban hydrology.A: Thank to Reviewer #1 for pointing it out. We carefully addressed the impact of flow rate and mobility of target pesticides (lines 226-236) as follows: "Overall, pesticides behaviour in urban catchments is poorl...

Insights into size-segregated distribution of benzothiazoles in indoor aerosol from office environments

“…The solid standards were rst diluted in MeOH and then in ultrapure water. The instrumental method was developed by Feltracco et al 16 , (2023). Briey, the determination of BTHs was performed using an Ultimate 3000 UHPLC system coupled with a TSQ Altis™ Plus Triple Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (Thermo Scientic™, ICS-5000, Waltham, USA) using a heated electrospray source (H-ESI).…”

“…mm, 5 mm) equipped with a guard column Betasil™ Javelin guard C18 10 × 2.1 mm, 5 mm (Thermo Scientic™). Sample treatment and QC/QA were optimized by Favaro et al (2024, submitted) and Feltracco et al 16 (2023). Briey, lters were placed in a 5 mL vial (previously decontaminated with MeOH and ultrapure water) with steel tweezers.…”

“…12 They nd extensive application as vulcanization accelerators in rubber production, fungicides in paper and leather manufacturing, corrosion inhibitors in antifreeze formulations, ultraviolet light stabilizers in textiles and plastics, and photosensitizers in photography. 8,10 BTHs have been found in a wide range of concentrations in inuent and effluent, 13,14 tap and ground waters, 15 surface waters 16 and more. 8 This extensive detection in many samples suggests potential human exposure.…”

Low detection of glyphosate in rivers following application in forestry

“…Glyphosate has been detected in surface waters around urban areas either from use in weed control within the urban area or possibly from transport from adjacent agricultural areas. 18,[28][29][30][31][32] Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in Canadian forestry. 33,34 In Canadian forestry, glyphosate-based herbicides are typically applied 1-5 years post planting during the late summer to reduce competition between coniferous trees and hardwood species.…”

“…In addition to agriculture, glyphosate is commonly used in urban areas and in forestry. Glyphosate has been detected in surface waters around urban areas either from use in weed control within the urban area or possibly from transport from adjacent agricultural areas 18,28–32 . Glyphosate is the most commonly used herbicide in Canadian forestry 33,34 .…”