CONTAMINATION OF LAKE WATER BY
PESTICIDES VIA ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT
Pierre MASCLET
Laboratoire d'Etudes des Systemes Atmospheriques Multiphasiques, Universite
de Savoie, Campus Scientifique, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France
ABSTRACT
High altitude lakes cannot be contaminated by a direct introduction of xenobiotic
chemical compounds such as pesticides. Nevertheless they can be contaminated by
these compounds after meso scale atmospheric transport. Laboratory experiments
were carried out to determine the life time of pesticides in the atmosphere.
Simulation of atmospheric degradation by UV and/or atmospheric oxidants of
pesticides absorbed on terrigenic aerosols (kaolin) or anthropic aerosols (fly ash)
shows that some pesticides such as atrazine, simazine or trifluraline have sufficient
life times to be transported over several hundred miles from the source areas to the
receptor sites and then contaminate the water after wet or dry deposition, while
other pesticides such as diu ron, carbaryl or fenitrothion are rapidly destroyed
during atmospheric transport and cannot reach remote areas. Simultaneously,
field measurements were carried out in the Savoy region in France to see if these
pesticides were present in the troposphere and in the Alpine lake water. Significant
amounts of atrazine, simazine, pendimethalin, and trifluralin were found both in
the air and in the water, while no trace of isoproturon, diuron and fenitrothion
were detected in the atmosphere in accordance with their expected life times. The
presence of carbaryl, however, in lake water is strange since this compound has a
short life time. These preliminary results will be used to keep track of the water in
parallel with ecotoxicological tests and biochemical assays.
Contamination des Eaux de Lac par les Pesticides Transportes par
Voie Atmospherique
RESUME
Les lacs en haute altitude ne peuvent pas etre contamines par une introduction
directe de composes chimiques xenobiotiques tels que les pesticides. Neanmoins, Us
peuvent etre contamines par ces composes apres transport par voie atmospherique
a des echelles intermediaires. Des experiences en laboratoire ont ere conduites afin
de determiner Ie temps de sejour des pesticides dans l'atmosphere. La simulation
de la degradation atmospherique par les U. V. et/ou par les agents oxydants des
pesticides absorbes sur des aerosols terrigenes (kaolin) ou des aerosols
anthropiques (cendres volantes), montre que certains pesticides tels que
C. Bardinet et al. (eds.), Geosciences and Water Resources: Environmental Data Modeling
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997
PESTICIDES VIA ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT
Pierre MASCLET
Laboratoire d'Etudes des Systemes Atmospheriques Multiphasiques, Universite
de Savoie, Campus Scientifique, 73376 Le Bourget du Lac, France
ABSTRACT
High altitude lakes cannot be contaminated by a direct introduction of xenobiotic
chemical compounds such as pesticides. Nevertheless they can be contaminated by
these compounds after meso scale atmospheric transport. Laboratory experiments
were carried out to determine the life time of pesticides in the atmosphere.
Simulation of atmospheric degradation by UV and/or atmospheric oxidants of
pesticides absorbed on terrigenic aerosols (kaolin) or anthropic aerosols (fly ash)
shows that some pesticides such as atrazine, simazine or trifluraline have sufficient
life times to be transported over several hundred miles from the source areas to the
receptor sites and then contaminate the water after wet or dry deposition, while
other pesticides such as diu ron, carbaryl or fenitrothion are rapidly destroyed
during atmospheric transport and cannot reach remote areas. Simultaneously,
field measurements were carried out in the Savoy region in France to see if these
pesticides were present in the troposphere and in the Alpine lake water. Significant
amounts of atrazine, simazine, pendimethalin, and trifluralin were found both in
the air and in the water, while no trace of isoproturon, diuron and fenitrothion
were detected in the atmosphere in accordance with their expected life times. The
presence of carbaryl, however, in lake water is strange since this compound has a
short life time. These preliminary results will be used to keep track of the water in
parallel with ecotoxicological tests and biochemical assays.
Contamination des Eaux de Lac par les Pesticides Transportes par
Voie Atmospherique
RESUME
Les lacs en haute altitude ne peuvent pas etre contamines par une introduction
directe de composes chimiques xenobiotiques tels que les pesticides. Neanmoins, Us
peuvent etre contamines par ces composes apres transport par voie atmospherique
a des echelles intermediaires. Des experiences en laboratoire ont ere conduites afin
de determiner Ie temps de sejour des pesticides dans l'atmosphere. La simulation
de la degradation atmospherique par les U. V. et/ou par les agents oxydants des
pesticides absorbes sur des aerosols terrigenes (kaolin) ou des aerosols
anthropiques (cendres volantes), montre que certains pesticides tels que
C. Bardinet et al. (eds.), Geosciences and Water Resources: Environmental Data Modeling
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1997