Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-019-02758-z Pesticides in Surface Waters in Argentina Monitored Using Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers Shawna Corcoran 1,4  · Chris D. Metcalfe 1  · Tamanna Sultana 1  · María Valeria Amé 2  · Mirta L. Menone 3 Received: 20 May 2019 / Accepted: 19 November 2019 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers (POCIS) were deployed in two watersheds in Córdoba province and one watershed in Buenos Aires province in Argentina. The fungicides, tebuconazole, carbendazim and azoxystrobin, and the herbicides, atrazine, dicamba and 2,4-D were detected in POCIS deployed in each of the three watersheds. Estimated time weighted average concentrations of atrazine were greater than 2 µg/L at the outfow of Brava Lake in Buenos Aires province, and this concentration exceeds the Canadian water quality guideline for protection of aquatic life. The concentrations of all other pesticides were less than 400 ng/L. The distribution of pesticides detected in surface waters indicated that the sources were runof from agricultural and urban lands and discharges from wastewater treatment plants. Keywords Pesticides · Argentina · Fungicides · Atrazine · Carbendazim · Tebuconazole Because Argentina is one of the world’s leading countries in agricultural production, there is interest in determining the potential for contamination of surface waters by cur- rent use pesticides (CUPs). The herbicide, atrazine has been widely detected in surface waters in Argentina at concen- trations up to 1400 ng/L (Bonansea et al. 2013; De Ger- ónimo et al. 2014; Pérez et al. 2017). The azole fungicide, tebuconazole was detected in surface waters in Argentina (De Gerónimo et al. 2014), as was the herbicide, glypho- sate (Bonansea et al. 2013; Pérez et al. 2017). Some fungi- cides used as pharmaceuticals or in personal care products are discharged in municipal wastewater (Kahle et al. 2008; Wick et al. 2010). In a river downstream of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) serving the city of Córdoba, Argentina, compounds of wastewater origin were detected up to 70 km downstream of the wastewater discharge (Val- dés et al. 2014). Several herbicides and fungicides used as biocides in building materials have been detected in urban storm water (Schoknecht et al. 2003; Metcalfe et al. 2016). Finally, urban runof may carry pesticides used in lawn and turf care into surface waters (Struger and Fletcher 2007). In the present study, the distribution and concentrations of selected pesticides of agricultural and urban origin were monitored in the Suquía River and Ctalamochita River in the province of Córdoba, and in Brava Lake in the province of Buenos Aires. These watersheds are all impacted by agri- culture, but the Suquía River is also impacted by discharges of municipal wastewater and urban runof from the city of Córdoba. The monitoring technique used in this study was deployment of a passive sampler, the Polar Organic Chemi- cal Integrative Sampler (POCIS). Extracts prepared from POCIS samplers were analyzed for a range of pesticides and biocides by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spec- trometry (LC–MS/MS). * Chris D. Metcalfe cmetcalfe@trentu.ca 1 Water Quality Centre, Trent University, Peterborough, ON, Canada 2 Centro de Investigación en Bioquímica Clínica e Immunología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina 3 Laboratorio de Ecotoxicología, Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC)- UNMDP, CONICET Facultad Cs. Ex. y Nat, Mar Del Plata, Argentina 4 Present Address: Centre for Advancement of Water and Wastewater Technologies, Fleming College, Lindsay, ON, Canada