Undersökning av bekämpningsmedelsrester i dricksvattenbrunnar och landsbygdsbefolkning
(2012) MVEM13 20102Studies in Environmental Science
- Abstract
- Drinking water is the most important part of our food that we need in everyday life. It is estimated that over one million permanent residents and nearly as many second homes in Sweden uses its own well as the only source of drinking water supply. For example we can point to Landskrona municipality in the south of Sweden where there are about one thousand households that use their drinking water from private water supplies i.e. own wells (Stigsdotter, 2008).
The use of chemical pesticides during recent decades has led to leakage of pesticides to groundwater. The presence of chemical pesticides in drinking water wells in rural areas has consequently been recognized in recent years. The Environment Department in Landskrona, for example, has... (More) - Drinking water is the most important part of our food that we need in everyday life. It is estimated that over one million permanent residents and nearly as many second homes in Sweden uses its own well as the only source of drinking water supply. For example we can point to Landskrona municipality in the south of Sweden where there are about one thousand households that use their drinking water from private water supplies i.e. own wells (Stigsdotter, 2008).
The use of chemical pesticides during recent decades has led to leakage of pesticides to groundwater. The presence of chemical pesticides in drinking water wells in rural areas has consequently been recognized in recent years. The Environment Department in Landskrona, for example, has studied the levels of chemical pesticides in groundwater since 1992.
Considering the possible health risks of chemical pesticides is of great importance to perform continuous investigations and studies that can clarify possible connections between the pesticide loads in drinking water and load in the human body. If levels of pesticide residues in drinking water can significantly affect the total load on the rural population in Sweden is not known yet. It is therefore important to detect possible connections between the loads of pesticides in drinking water and in humans, which also explains the main purpose of this study.
To achieve the goal of this study, I selected 50 wells from Landskrona municipality and 33 chemical pesticides have been analyzed in drinking water from the wells. Furthermore, about 12 exposure biomarkers have been analyzed in the urine of individuals who drink the water from the same wells. Exposure biomarkers analyzed in human urine in order to be able to detect and measure levels of chemical pesticides, which are expected to be in the human body. Analyses of pesticides and exposure biomarkers have been performed using Tandem mass spectrometry. The result showed that high levels of pesticides in drinking water from private wells in rural areas were not related to the load of pesticides in this population group.
Possible differences between general population and rural population is the second question that this study can clarify, by comparing the frequency i.e. prevalence of exposure biomarkers in urine between the two mentioned communities. The result of the comparison makes it difficult to determine which population group in this study have been exposed more to chemical pesticides from drinking water. It is not obvious that the presence of biomarkers in the urine may be linked to levels of pesticides in drinking water. Thus, the difference between population groups is not motivated by the connection between drinking water and the presence of exposure biomarkers in urine.
The project also aimed to test possible differences between the years 2005 and 2010 in levels of chemical pesticides in the same wells. The result showed that the total content of chemical pesticides in highly loaded wells had not changed significantly after five years. There is a great need for continuous monitoring of concentrations of chemical pesticides found in drinking water wells. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/3364930
- author
- Arvin, Amir LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- MVEM13 20102
- year
- 2012
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 3364930
- date added to LUP
- 2013-01-25 13:57:12
- date last changed
- 2013-01-25 13:57:12
@misc{3364930,
abstract = {{Drinking water is the most important part of our food that we need in everyday life. It is estimated that over one million permanent residents and nearly as many second homes in Sweden uses its own well as the only source of drinking water supply. For example we can point to Landskrona municipality in the south of Sweden where there are about one thousand households that use their drinking water from private water supplies i.e. own wells (Stigsdotter, 2008).
The use of chemical pesticides during recent decades has led to leakage of pesticides to groundwater. The presence of chemical pesticides in drinking water wells in rural areas has consequently been recognized in recent years. The Environment Department in Landskrona, for example, has studied the levels of chemical pesticides in groundwater since 1992.
Considering the possible health risks of chemical pesticides is of great importance to perform continuous investigations and studies that can clarify possible connections between the pesticide loads in drinking water and load in the human body. If levels of pesticide residues in drinking water can significantly affect the total load on the rural population in Sweden is not known yet. It is therefore important to detect possible connections between the loads of pesticides in drinking water and in humans, which also explains the main purpose of this study.
To achieve the goal of this study, I selected 50 wells from Landskrona municipality and 33 chemical pesticides have been analyzed in drinking water from the wells. Furthermore, about 12 exposure biomarkers have been analyzed in the urine of individuals who drink the water from the same wells. Exposure biomarkers analyzed in human urine in order to be able to detect and measure levels of chemical pesticides, which are expected to be in the human body. Analyses of pesticides and exposure biomarkers have been performed using Tandem mass spectrometry. The result showed that high levels of pesticides in drinking water from private wells in rural areas were not related to the load of pesticides in this population group.
Possible differences between general population and rural population is the second question that this study can clarify, by comparing the frequency i.e. prevalence of exposure biomarkers in urine between the two mentioned communities. The result of the comparison makes it difficult to determine which population group in this study have been exposed more to chemical pesticides from drinking water. It is not obvious that the presence of biomarkers in the urine may be linked to levels of pesticides in drinking water. Thus, the difference between population groups is not motivated by the connection between drinking water and the presence of exposure biomarkers in urine.
The project also aimed to test possible differences between the years 2005 and 2010 in levels of chemical pesticides in the same wells. The result showed that the total content of chemical pesticides in highly loaded wells had not changed significantly after five years. There is a great need for continuous monitoring of concentrations of chemical pesticides found in drinking water wells.}},
author = {{Arvin, Amir}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Undersökning av bekämpningsmedelsrester i dricksvattenbrunnar och landsbygdsbefolkning}},
year = {{2012}},
}