Abstract:
Livelihood in Robit-Bata is based on irrigated crop, fruit and vegetable production using groundwater, which is also used as a drinking water. Though pesticides, usually, 2,4-D, endosulfan, diazinon, DDT, dimethoate, fenitrothion, glyphosate, mancozeb, malathion, and redomile have been used intensively, its residue level and risk have not been studied. This study was initiated to understand the 2,4-D, endosulfan-α and endosulfan-β residue contamination levels of plant, soil, ground and surface water. Specifically, the aim was to study the pesticide use and management practices, loading and seasonal variation effects, vulnerability variation, and to evaluate the residue levels against MPL. 192 samples were collected and analyzed by GC-µECD for 4 seasons from 2 farms and a river. In the study area, pesticides are used to be applied in trial-and-error. In farm-2, where higher dose was loaded, mean 2,4-D, endosulfan-α and endosulfan-β residue levels (µg/kg) of plant (6.93, 4.72, 1.93), soil (6.21, 3.61, 2.33) and groundwater (0.3, 0.1, ND) were found to be higher than that of farm-1’s plant (5.1, 4.27, 1.58), soil (4.9, 3.38, 1.91) and groundwater (0.27, 0.09, ND). Across a season (1-4), mean residue levels (µg/kg) of plant (2,4-D: 5.14, 5.84, 6.3, 6.69; endosulfan-α: 2.17, 3.15, 6.1, 6.66; endosulfan-β: 0.1, 0.25, 3, 3.65) and soil (2,4-D: 1.81, 4.17, 8.1, 8.2; endosulfan-α: 0.94, 1.17, 5.72, 6.16; endosulfan-β: 0.03, 0.25, 4, 4.2) found to increase steadily, while that of groundwater (2,4-D: 0.73, 0.31, 0.1, ND; endosulfan-α: 0.14, 0.13, 0.11, ND) were found to decrease steadily. Ground-waters, followed by surface waters found to be list vulnerable while plants were found to be highly vulnerable to contamination. The residue levels were found to be below the (inter)national MPL (30 and 0.03 mg/L for 2,4-D and endosulfan). They, however, exceeded the EC MPL (0.5 and 0.1 μg/L for total and individual pesticide).