Monitoring results for organochlorine pesticides in soil and water from selected obsolete pesticide stores in Pakistan.

ABSTRACT

This study reports on the concentration and distribution pattern of organochlorine pesticides in soil and water samples collected from obsolete pesticide stores in three provinces of Pakistan and analyzed on capillary gas chromatography/electron capture detection. The data for soil and water samples were highly variable as samplings were done from diversified locations. The soil samples mainly contained DDTs followed by lindane and heptachlor. The contamination levels in North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Punjab, and Sindh were in ranges of 247-9,157 mg kg(-1), 214-10,892 mg kg(-1), and 86-1,139 mg kg(-1), respectively. In water, residue range levels were 0-15.17 (median 0.29) microg L(-1), 0.25-0.78 (median 0.36) microg L(-1), and 0.11-0.83 (median 0.21) microg L(-1) in NWFP, Punjab, and Sindh, respectively.