Abstract
Among human activities agriculture is one of the principal activities responsible for the damages that can affect water resources. The increase in food production achieved in last decades has been possible mainly because of massive use of fertilizers and pesticides. Data on pesticide pollution are rather scarce; monitoring data on water contamination is based on few investigations, focussing on a limited area and on few compounds of interest. The large number of compounds (approximately 600, which were approved for use) and confidentiality of manufacturers make it difficult to obtain accurate and current information on pesticide application. Herbicides are the second most important class of pesticides used in the European Union. A major difficulty in estimating water quality related to herbicide contamination is due to seasonal changes of field application and low maximum admissible concentration required by European policy. Unfortunately, systematic monitoring is not yet routine in the EU. That is why the data on maximum permissible concentration of herbicides significantly varies among European countries.
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© 2006 Landes Bioscience
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Guzzella, L., Pozzoni, F. (2006). The Problem of Herbicide Water Monitoring in Europe. In: Biotechnological Applications of Photosynthetic Proteins: Biochips, Biosensors and Biodevices. Biotechnology Intelligence Unit. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36672-2_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-36672-2_11
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