The environmental condition of an estuarine ecosystem disturbed by pesticides.

Knowledge regarding the concentration levels resulting from the use of agricultural pesticides may indicate the nature of the controls necessary to reduce environmental and human health risks to an acceptable level. Therefore, the main goal of the present work was to assess the spatial and temporal occurrence of 35 pesticides in the River Sado estuary (Portugal) in 2017 and evaluate its environmental condition, as data for estuarine ecosystems is scarce. Since pesticides are very susceptible to matrix effects promoted by environmental samples, to attain the main goal, we developed a fast and almost solvent-free environmentally friendly method with a good performance for both estuarine surface water and sediment samples.

Environmental and human health risk indicators for agricultural pesticides in estuaries.

The present study aims to contribute to a better assessment of pesticide environmental and human health (here evaluated in the context of human exposure via food items) risks for the estuarine system by comprehensively studying the spatial and temporal occurrence of the pesticides atrazine, azoxystrobin, bentazon, λ-cyhalothrin, penoxsulam and terbuthylazine in the River Mondego estuary (Portugal). Pesticide quantification was performed in surface water, sediment, macroalgae (Ulva spp., Gracilaria gracilis, Fucus vesiculosus), aquatic plants (Zostera noltii, Spartina maritime, Scirpus maritimus) and bivalves (Scrobicularia plana).

On-line solid-phase extraction method for determination of triazine herbicides and degradation products in seawater by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

A fast, simple, selective and sensitive method has been developed for the determination of nine triazine herbicides (ametryn, atrazine, cyanazine, prometryn, propazine, simazine, simetryn, terbuthylazine and terbutryn) and eight degradation products (desethyl atrazine, desethyl-desisopropyl atrazine, desethyl 2-hydroxyatrazine, desethyl terbuthylazine, desisopropyl atrazine, desisopropyl 2-hydroxyatrazine, 2-hydroxyatrazine and 2-hidroxyterbuthylazine) in seawater samples. On-line solid-phase extraction coupled with ultra-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was employed for simultaneous analysis of all compounds in 11min. Validation parameters were studied through the estimation of the limits of detection and quantification, calibration curves and precision.

Tertiary treatment of a municipal wastewater toward pharmaceuticals removal by chemical and electrochemical advanced oxidation processes.

This study focuses on the degradation of pharmaceuticals from a municipal wastewater after secondary treatment by applying various advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and electrochemical AOPs (EAOPs) like UVC, HO/UVC, anodic oxidation (AO), AO with electrogenerated HO (AO-HO), AO-HO/UVC and photoelectro-Fenton (PEF) using either UVC radiation (PEF-UVC) or UVA radiation (PEF-UVA). The municipal wastewater after secondary treatment was spiked with 5.0 mg L of trimethoprim (TMP) antibiotic.

A single-step pesticide extraction and clean-up multi-residue analytical method by selective pressurized liquid extraction followed by on-line solid phase extraction and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry for complex matrices.

Pesticides, a group of compounds linked to human activity, may, when in toxic levels, have a profound effect on water quality, and hence result in adverse consequences to aquatic life and ultimately to human health. Analytical challenges arise when successfully trying to determine these levels in environmental complex matrices. Therefore, fast, simple, sensitive and selective analytical methodologies for multi-residue determination of pesticides (atrazine, azoxystrobin, bentazon, λ-cyhalothrin, penoxsulam and terbuthylazine) in sediment, macrophytes (algae and aquatic plants) and aquatic animals were developed and validated.