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Pollution of the water environment by organic pesticides
Author(s) -
Faust Samuel D.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt196456part1677
Subject(s) - pesticide , environmental chemistry , environmental science , pollution , odor , water quality , surface water , pollutant , water pollution , contamination , aquatic ecosystem , chemistry , environmental engineering , ecology , organic chemistry , biology
Man is exposed to organic pesticides in his water environment through their use in the control of aquatic weeds, insects, and trash fish; percolation and runofJ from agricultural lands; drift from aerial and land applications; and discharge of industrial waste waters. Chemical and biologiC evidence indicates that most surface waters of the United States, in general, are polluted with the chlorinated hydrocarbon insecticides. In specific and localized situations, ground and surface waters have been polluted with the herbicide, 2,4‐D. These organiC pesticides are routed to man through drinking water and indirectly through edible fish. The general evidence suggests that adsorption on solid surfaces, biologic and chemical degradation, hydrolysis, uptake, retention, and release by biologic systems, and chemical precipitation reactions do not eliminate organic pesticides quickly from water. Organic pesticides affect drinking water quality through off‐tastes and off‐odors. Since the concentrations of several organic thiophosphates and 2,4‐D producing tastes and odors are far below subtoxic levels by factors ranging from 17 to 113,000, threshold taste and odor levels can be used to establish drinking water standards with the appropriate safety factors. Organic pesticides do not appear to represent a health hazard, chronic or acute, to man at the microgram per liter and milligram per liter concentrations believed to be in ground and surface waters at the present time.