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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Organic Compounds in the Environment

Residues of Endosulfan and Other Selected Organochlorine Pesticides in Farm Areas of the Lower Fraser Valley, British Columbia, Canada

Environmental Protection Branch, Environment Canada, Pacific and Yukon Region, 201-401 Burrard Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

^* Corresponding author (mike.wan{at}ec.gc.ca)

Received for publication September 22, 2004. Crop soils, ditch sediments, and water flowing from several farm areas to salmon tributary streams of the Fraser River in the Lower Fraser Valley (LFV) of British Columbia, Canada, were sampled in 2002–2003 to quantify for residues of an organochlorine cyclodiene pesticide, endosulfan (END = -endosulfan + ß-endosulfan + endosulfan sulfate). Residues from historical use of other selected organochlorine pesticides, namely, cyclodienes (aldrin, -chlordane, -chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, endrin aldehyde, heptachlor, and heptachlor epoxide), hexachlorocyclohexanes [-benzene-hexachloride (-BHC), ß-BHC, -BHC, and -BHC (lindane)], and DDT-related compounds (p,p-DDT, p,p-DDD, p,p-DDE, and methoxychlor) were also determined. Reference and background levels of these pesticides in ditches leading to fish streams were obtained from pristine watershed areas. Varying amounts of END residues were detected in soils (<0.02–5.60 mg kg^–1 dry wt.) and ditch sediments (<0.02–3.33 mg kg^–1 dry wt.) in mainly three of five farm areas sampled. Likewise, residues (excluding END) of other selected organochlorine compounds such as aldrin, BHC, chlordane, endrin, p,p-DDT, methoxychlor, and their respective major transformation products (endosulfan sulfate, dieldrin, endrin aldehyde, heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, p,p-DDD, and p,p-DDE) were found in crop soils (<0.02–16.2 mg kg^–1 dry wt.) and sediments (<0.02–9.73 mg kg^–1 dry wt.). Most of these pesticides (END: <0.01–1.86 µg L^–1; other selected organochlorine pesticides: <0.0.1–1.50 µg L^–1) were also found in ditch water leading to salmon streams in several farms. The END levels of crop soils from the same LFV study farms in 1994 and 2003 indicated an estimated decline of 22% to 1.35 mg kg^–1 dry wt. during that period. This reduction was probably due to the increasing use of alternate pesticides (e.g., organophosphorus compounds). Some possible biological implications of these pesticide residues on nontarget organisms in the LFV are discussed.

Abbreviations: DT50, 50% degradation time • END, -endosulfan + ß-endosulfan + endosulfan sulfate • LC50, 50% mortality in a test population • LFV, Lower Fraser Valley

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