Pesticide residues in Hungarian soils

The survey of pesticide active ingredients and residues in Hungarian soil and groundwater samples was carried out as part of a nationwide research program realised by the co-operation of Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Ministry of Environment. The program was justified by increasing human- and ecotoxicological concerns about pesticides and, at the same time, exact licensing and merchandising requirements, as well as strict (inter)national regulations of residue limits (e.g. joining the European Union).Based on earlier experiments related to analytical and ecotoxicological properties of pesticides; selected active ingredients acetochlor, atrazine, carbofuran, diazinon, fenoxycarb, metribuzin, phorate, prometryn, terbutryn, trifluralin were monitored using GC-MS in 24 soil and 56 groundwater samples. The samples were collected from specific reference points in Hungary during the winter sampling period.Regarding the soil medium, only atrazine was detected in two samples; at levels of 0.07 μg g− 1 (sample no. 3: I 1409) and 0.11 μg g− 1 (sample no. 12: I 0503). On the other hand, four of the target compounds (atrazine 166–3067 ng mL− 1, acetochlor 307–2894 ng mL− 1, diazinon 15–223 ng mL− 1, prometryn 109–160 ng mL− 1) occurred in the samples from groundwater medium. Since atrazine is persistent in the environment and it was found even during the winter sampling period (therefore 8–9 months after pesticide application), there is a warning that environmental pollution caused by agricultural chemical residues requires enhanced monitoring action.Beside the investigated pesticide active ingredients, ten other pollutants – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) –, as 5,6,7,7α-tetrahydro-4,4,7-2(4H) benzofuranon; 3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyran-2-on; methyl-(6R,S)-8-hydroxy-7-oxo-8,9 secolabdan-15-oat; 3,4,5,6,7,8-hexahydro-4,7-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyran-2-on; 1-(2-hydroxy-5-methoxy-4-methyl-phenyl)-ethanon; 1-[1,1′ biphenyl]-3-yl-ethanon; 7(1H)-pteridinon; 7-methoxy 2,3 dihydro 1-benzfuran-3-acetic acid; 4-trifluor-methoxycarbonyl-benzaldehyde; 1,3 methano-octahydro-penthalene and orthorhombic sulphur were also identified by GC-MS spectrum library.Spatial distribution monitoring of soil and groundwater pollutants, as well as the database structure, allow several users without qualification in spatial informatics to gain site maps according to user-defined parameters; spatial search and on-line editing.