Comparative assessment of the risks of soil and groundwater pollution by triazine herbicides in Ukraine and European Union countries.

OBJECTIVE

Aim: Assessment of the risk of soil and groundwater contamination by triazine herbicides to reduce anthropogenic environment pollution and decrease the potential negative impact on public health in Ukraine and the EU.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Materials and

Methods

14 preparations containing 5 active substances of the triazine class and its environmental fate in soil and water considering Ukraine and EU climatic conditions. Methods of in-field hygienic experiment, gas-liquid chromatography, analytical and statistical methods, hygienic modelling using Experimental Leaching Index (ELI), (GUS), (RLPI), (LIX), (DT50) and (KOC), SCI-GROW, LEACHmod.

RESULTS

Results

Analysis of the physicochemical properties of studied substances showed that they were classified as mobile or moderately mobile by migration ability. Calculated T50 for studied substances allowed us to determine the hazard classes for them. Substances pertain to 2-3 classes (promethrin and terbuthylazine - class 2, moderately persistent (30-100 days), tribenuron-methyl, thifensulfuron-methyl and metribuzin - class 3, weak persistency (less than 30 days)). The determination coefficient (R2) values ranged from 0.704 to 0.995.

CONCLUSION

Conclusions

According to the GUS, most of the studied substances have a moderate possibility of leaching into groundwater, except for thifensulfuron-methyl. While in EU soils the index for promethrin is very low, tribenuron-methyl is low, terbuthylazine and metribuzin are moderate, and thifensulfuron-methyl is high. The SCI-GROW assessment showed that most of them have significantly lower values in Ukraine than international values (except for promethrin), which can be explained by significant dissimilarities in maximum application rates, number of treatments, and in some cases - different resistance of substances in Ukrainian and EU soils.