Presence of pesticides in surface water from four sub-basins in Argentina

The southeast of Buenos Aires was the site with the highest frequency of pesticides detection, followed by Azul and San Vicente microbasins. The most detected pesticides, considering all surface water samples, were atrazine, tebuconazole and diethyltoluamide with maximum concentration levels of 1.4, 0.035, and 0.701 μg L−1, respectively. The results obtained for all basins studied show the presence of residual pesticides in surface waters according the different agricultural activities developed.