The impact of pesticides used at the agricultural land of the Puck commune on the environment of the Puck Bay

Background The Puck commune is one of the largest agricultural regions in the Pomeranian Voivodship that due to the pollution of the coastal zone negatively affects the functioning of the Puck Bay, including health of its inhabitants, and causes decrease in tourism as well as in overall economic value of the region. The objective of the undertaken study was to assess the extent of risk to the environment posed by the pesticides used in agricultural production in the coastal area of the Puck commune. Methods The study focused on organochlorine insecticides (DDT and its metabolites: α, β, ϒ, δ-HCH, aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, isodrine), glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA, and 309 active substances used as pesticides. Analyses were carried out using GC-MS, GC-MS/MS and LC-MS/MS techniques. The undertaken novel approach included “tracking” of a large number of substances in multiple environmental matrices (surface water, groundwater, seawater, soil, sediment and fish), along with examination of their transport routes from the pesticides application locality to the Puck Bay. Results Glyphosate and its metabolite AMPA, anthraquinone, boscalid, chlorpyrifos-ethyl, dimethachlor, diflufenican, difenoconazole, epoxiconazole, fluopicolide and metazachlor were found in soil samples and surface water samples collected from drainage ditches surrounding the studied agricultural plots. In the samples of seawater and fish taken from the Puck Bay no studied pesticides were found.