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The first report of selected herbicides and fungicides in water and fish from a highly utilized and polluted freshwater urban impoundment

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Abstract

Many of South Africa’s freshwater impoundments are compromised by pesticide pollution, and the Roodeplaat Dam, near Pretoria, is no exception. This paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of the herbicides Dacthal, metribuzin, simazine, tebuthiuron, terbuthylazine, and the fungicides azoxystrobin, carbendazim, epoxiconazole, metalaxyl (Ridomil), propiconazole, pyrimethanil and thiabendazole in a South African freshwater impoundment. This short note reports on the screening results of water and muscle tissue samples against a comprehensive library of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in the polluted Roodeplaat Dam. Muscle samples of Oreochromis mossambicus screened positive for p,p'-DDE and p,p'-DDD and for DCPA (chlorthal-methyl). The muscle tissue of Clarias gariepinus screened positive for p,p'-DDE and p,p'-DDD, chlorpyrifos, trans-chlordane, DCPA and terbuthylazine. The presence of these pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in this impoundment is of great concern as there is substantial evidence of adverse health effects in fish exposed to these chemicals.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Universities of Venda (P309-Researcher Incentive Grant) and Johannesburg, as well as the National Research Foundation for funding this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Department of Zoology, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyandou, Limpopo Province, 0950, South Africa

    Irene Barnhoorn

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Johannesburg, PO Box 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, 2006, South Africa

    Cobus van Dyk

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  1. Irene Barnhoorn
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  2. Cobus van Dyk
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Correspondence to Irene Barnhoorn.

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Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Science of the University of Johannesburg (REF: 2013-04-26/van Dyk).

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Barnhoorn, I., van Dyk, C. The first report of selected herbicides and fungicides in water and fish from a highly utilized and polluted freshwater urban impoundment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 33393–33398 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09930-7

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