Water quality survey of Mississippi's Upper Pearl River

Surface water samples were collected from May 2002 through May 2003 at seven locations within the Upper Pearl River Basin (UPRB) in east-central Mississippi to assess levels of pesticide impairment in the watershed. Depth-integrated samples were collected at three sites from September 2001 through January 2003 for total dissolved solid (TDS) analysis. Samples were extracted via Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and analyzed for fifteen pesticides: triclopyr, 2,4-D, tebuthiuron, simazine, atrazine, metribuzin, alachlor, metolachlor, cyanazine, norflurazon, hexazinone, pendimethalin, diuron, fluometuron, and the dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) degradation product p,p′-DDE. Of the analyzed compounds, hexazinone was detected in 94% of the samples, followed by metolachlor (76%), tebuthiuron (48%), and atrazine (47%). Metribuzin was detected in 6% of the samples and was the least detected compound of those analyzed. Sediment concentrations ranged from 20.64 mg/L at Burnside to 42.20 mg/L at Carthage, which also had the highest cumulative total sediment concentration at 4009 mg/L.