Pesticide dynamics in three small agricultural creeks in Hesse, Germany.

Background: Due to their high biodiversity, small water bodies play an important role for freshwater ecosystems. Nonetheless, systematic pesticide monitoring in small creeks with a catchment <30 km is rarely conducted.

Methods: In this study, event-driven water samples were taken from May until November 2017 and March until July 2018 after 20 rain events at three sampling sites with catchment areas of <27 km in the Wetterau, a region with intensive agriculture in Southern Hesse, Germany.