Pesticide Pollution in an Aquatic Environment
Umair Riaz, Faizan Rafi, Muhammad Naveed, Shehzada Munawar Mehdi, Ghulam Murtaza, Abdul Ghaffar Niazi, Hassan Mehmood
Abstract
The contamination of the aquatic ecosystem from pesticides, animal wastes, insecticides, fertilizers, etc., is the most common problem of water nowadays. In the aquatic environment, the pesticide can adsorb or desorb on suspended solids and further settle down in the bottom sediments. Pesticides reach aquatic systems mainly through two processes, namely runoff, and leaching. These two main processes are directly connected with the hydrological cycle. Due to rapid urbanization and industrialization, the use of toxic chemicals in pesticides increased. Pesticides lower the levels of oxygen, particulate organic carbon, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from decreased primary production and increased respiration in aquatic plants. When atrazine is exposed to an aquatic environment, it increases calcium in the water. This is due to reduced production of calcium carbonate ( CaCO 3 ) precipitation due to inhibition of crystal growth or the decrease in pH. Organochlorine pesticides (OCP), 132 atrazine, etc., increases ammonium ( NH 4+ ), nitrate ( NO − 3 ), sulfate ( SO 2− 4 ), and nitrite in the aquatic system. There are several methods to remove pesticide contamination from the aquatic environment like biological (bioaugmentation, natural attenuation, and biostimulation), chemical (denitrification, reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, and catalytic denitrification), and physical (zeolites, activated carbon, clays, and polymer materials).