Distribution of organochlorine insecticides in rivers of the Russian federation

There is a lack of information on organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in waters of Russian rivers. This hampers evaluation of the trans boundary transport, Studies were undertaken from 1988 to 1994 to: (i) characterize the levels and geographical distribution of OCPs in major Russian river basins, and (ii) determine trends in temporal dynamics of the waterborne contaminants. Russian rivers were contaminated by OCPs to an extent similar to that found in many countries one to two decades earlier, gamma-HCCH (1,2,3,4,5,6-hexachlorocyclohexane) was the most widespread pesticide, followed by alpha-HCCN, DHC (2,4,5,6,7,8,8-heptachlor 4,7-endo-methylbicyclo [4,3,0]-5-nonene), HCB (hexachlorobenzene), DDT (1,1-di (4'-chlorphenyl)-2,2,2-trichlorethane), beta-NCCH, DDE (1,1-di (4'-chlorphenyl)-2,2-dichlorethylene), and DDD (1,l-di (4'-chlorphenyl)-2,2-dichlorethylene) based on data from the State Network of Environmental Monitoring (SNEM), Concentrations seldom exceeded maximum allowable concentrations (MACs) and mean concentrations met National Russian ambient water quality criteria. Highest exceedence (expressed as a percentage of the number of water samples) of the MAC occurred for gamma-HCCH (19%) and alpha-HCCH (17.3%), with lower exceedences observed for DDT (4.3%), DDE (1.3%),and DDD (0.29%). Complementary observations were made using, established QA/QC protocols, The latter studies showed that much lower exceedences had occurred: gamma-HCCH (2.4%), DDT (2.1%), alpha-HCCH (2.0%), with negligibly low exceedences observed for DDE (0.4%), beta-HCCH (0.3%), and DDD (0.1%). in general, levels of OCPs in Russian inland water during 1991 to 1993 was similar to that found in Western countries a decade earlier.