Comparison of pesticide residue levels in the surface water of bertam river in Cameron Highlands, Pahang

• Published in: ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences
• Main Author: Haron S.H.; Ismail B.S.; Mispan M.R.; Rahman N.F.A.; Khalid K.; Mohd M.S.F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asian Research Publishing Network 2015
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84940055757&partnerID=40&md5=832729ee54578c5ea0db0e2659f2f22b

The presence of pesticide residues in the surface water of Bertam River located amidst the agricultural areas of Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia was monitored from May to October in 2014. The sampling sites were located at 10 sampling points along the Bertam River in the agricultural areas. The method of extraction of the insecticides (organophosphate/pyrethroid) from the water samples consist of solid phase extraction followed by gas chromatography (with electron capture detector, ECD). As expected, insecticides, namely cypermethrin and chlorpyrifos were found in the surface water of Bertam River. High level concentrations of insecticides in the surface water were observed during the period from May to October 2014, a period which included both seasons (wet and dry seasons). The highest concentration of 2.66 μg/ml and 1.23μg/ml for cypermethrin was observed during the wet and dry seasons respectively. This could be due to the frequent usage of the above-mentioned insecticides coupled with contamination that could have originated from the application sites. Meanwhile, the lowest concentration detected in the surface water was for chlorpyrifos (0.11μg/ml and 0.17μg/ml) during the dry and wet seasons, respectively. © 2006-2015 Asian Research Publishing Network (ARPN).