Pesticide and polychlorinated biphenyl residues in waters at the mouth of the Grand, Saugeen, and Thames Rivers, Ontario, Canada, 1986–1990

Abstract

Water samples were collected from the mouths of the three major agricultural watersheds, the Grand, the Saugeen, and the Thames (Ontario, Canada), between January 1986 and December 1990. Analyses were performed for 18 herbicides, 26 insecticides, and 4 fungicides in use in the basins. A total of between 425 and 474 samples were analyzed for each of the major groups of pesticides. Six herbicides, two insecticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were identified in surface water. Atrazine and its metabolite desethylatrazine were the most frequently found pesticide present in 340 of 474 samples or 72%; the metabolite was not always present with the parent compound. The second most frequently found pesticide was metolachlor which was identified in 30 of 474 samples or 6.3%. 2,4-D and cyanazine were present in 3.3% and 1.5% of the samples, respectively; alachlor, mecoprop, and simazine were present in 0.5% of the samples. Dicamba and metribuzin were present in single samples (0.2%). DDT, heptachlor epoxide, and PCB were identified in only single samples over the 5-year period. Between 342 and 2959 kg/annum of total atrazine were found passing the mouth of the three rivers and entering Lakes Erie or St. Clair between 1986 and 1990. The greatest loss was from the Thames River and the least from the Saugeen River. Between 1% and 2% of that applied in the watershed was lost at the mouth. Loadings of only two other pesticides to the rivers exceeded 5 kg in any one year, namely, metolachlor and 2,4-D. In the case of metolachlor, loadings ranged from <5 to 1,726 kg/annum, the highest being in the Thames and the lowest in the Saugeen River. 2,4-D exceeded a loading of 5 kg/annum in 1988 in the Grand River. Atrazine, cyanazine, and metolachlor were tracked across Lake St. Clair from the mouth of the Thames to the mouth of the Detroit River in 1987.