In light of the new European Directive on drinking water and the respective Czech decree, the approach to the detection and monitoring of pesticides in drinking water has changed.
At present, water should be analyzed for all pesticides, the presence of which can be reasonably suspected in a given water source, rather than for a limited number of precisely defined substances as required previously. Therefore, the manufacturer of water is expected to search actively for the information needed. The current sources of information on the incidence of pesticides in the CR are indicated, critical pesticides found in European ground waters and rivers are listed and results of the screening of the Czech water supply systems are presented. The new legislative requirements for drinking water quality (Decree adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture of the CR, No. 376/2000 of Coll.) have brought a change to monitoring and evaluating pesticides in the drinking water. In the future, it will be necessary to monitor not only the listed pesticides, but also others, which could possibly occur. This imposes new requirements upon the water plant. Instead of the seven specific substances, the new Decree adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture of the CR only defines a limit for pesticides in general:
List of 10 pesticide substances most widely used in the CR in the years 1997 – 1999.
Report of a two-stage screening monitoring in water-conduits, performed by the sanitary service in the years 2000 – 2001. The aim of this report was to gather information about the presence of these substances in drinking water. Within the first stage of this research, 252 water-conduits (supplying more than 5000 people) were inspected. Within the second stage of this research, 3297 water-conduits (supplying less than 5000 people) were inspected. In the larger water-conduit systems, limits for the amount of pesticides were exceeded in 6 cases; 480 findings were below the detection limit. In the smaller water-conduit systems, the sum of pesticides exceeded the limits slightly in 21 cases, but the excesses were not confirmed in repeated tests, not even once. In 3039 samples, the findings were below the detection limit.
Summary of the most problematic pesticides as regards water resources in Europe.
In the future, analyses of the wider spectrum of pesticides will belong to the standard testes performed by the appropriate laboratory.
Information & Contact:
MUDr. Frantisek Kozisek,CSc. National Institute of Health Srobarova 48 100 42 Praha 10 tel: 00420/267082302
