HCH and DDT contamination of rural ponds of India

The organochlorine insecticides DDT and HCH have been extensively used in India in agriculture and public health programme (Gupta 1986). Several studies from India have shown the occurrence of DDT and HCH in soil (Agarwal et al. 1986), water (Bakre ct al. 1990), whole blood (Bhatnagar et al. 1992), and bovine milk (Battu et al. 1989). Frank et al. (1990) found pesticides contamination in rural ponds of Canada, and explained that the contamination was due to both surface water run-off from treated fields during storm events and deposits from spray drifts. HCH and DDT contamination in the major components of rural ponds biota-water, sediment and fish from India have not been studied despite the fact that rural ponds are the major water source for animals, agriculture, and other domestic uses. We present HCH and DDT levels in water, sediment and fish from rural ponds of India.