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The legacy of persistent organic pollutants in Azerbaijan: an assessment of past use and current contamination

  • 11th Forum of the International HCH and Pesticide Association
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Abstract

Azerbaijan has a history of production and heavy use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) with use focused in the main agricultural lowland region centred on the Kur River. Using a number of data sources, including archived reports from several government ministries, we attempt to construct production and use inventories for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and HCHs and compare these to scientific estimates of production and use of these chemicals in the 1960s to the 1980s. Notable discrepancies are evident particularly for DDT, with Azeri government records indicating much higher use (147-fold) than that estimated by the international scientific community. Soil and river sediment data from the 1980s and 2000s are also presented. While it is recognised that analytical uncertainties remain high for these older data (generated by GC–ECD), there is some evidence to show a decline in concentrations for some OCPs over this period. Extremely high concentrations of OCPs are evident for soils sampled in the vicinity of obsolete pesticide storage sites (found in numerous locations around the agricultural lowlands) and these levels may pose a health risk to wildlife and humans. River sediment data indicate high levels of both OCPs and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), particularly downstream of the confluence of the two main rivers, the Kur and Araz. Particle-bound annual fluxes from the Kur River into the Caspian Sea are estimated for PCBs and OCPs and these are likely to influence levels observed in local coastal sediments, with agreement between river sediment data generated in the early 2000s and coastal marine sediment data generated from separate studies. We recommend that monitoring efforts should focus on soils in agricultural areas and around pesticide storage and production facilities as these soils will continue to provide a source of POPs to the regional environment.

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Acknowledgments

The PhD research of GA has been funded by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The authors are grateful to Dr. Islam Mustafayev of Ruzgar non-government organisation, Prof. Mustafa Salakhov of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, Dr. Shahin Panahov of UNEP-Ecores NatCom, Dr. Bahruz Suleymanov of AzEcoLab, and Mr Mammadali Dunyamaliyev, of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Finally, the authors would like to express their gratitude to Dr Yi-Fan Li of Environment Canada for providing DDT use estimates for Azerbaijan and for a helpful discussion on this subject.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Gulchohra Aliyeva & Crispin Halsall

  2. State Phytosanitary Control Service, Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan

    Khoshgadam Alasgarova & Yaqub Ibrahimov

  3. Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan

    Matanat Avazova

  4. Faculty of Chemistry, Baku State University, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan

    Roya Aghayeva

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  1. Gulchohra Aliyeva
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  2. Crispin Halsall
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  3. Khoshgadam Alasgarova
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  4. Matanat Avazova
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  5. Yaqub Ibrahimov
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  6. Roya Aghayeva
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Correspondence to Crispin Halsall.

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Aliyeva, G., Halsall, C., Alasgarova, K. et al. The legacy of persistent organic pollutants in Azerbaijan: an assessment of past use and current contamination. Environ Sci Pollut Res 20, 1993–2008 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1076-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1076-9

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