Abstract:
In recent years, various environmental
issues have aroused a concern on the pollution
of pesticides in rivers and in their various intercompartments.
Multiple residues of pesticides
discharged from industries or as a result of extensive
use of agrochemicals in agriculture have
been monitored. These pesticide residues contaminate
the river ecosystem and its intercompartments
such as sediments, and aquatic biota,
and make it harmful to humans when they contaminate
food and drinking water. The pesticide
contamination in water, sediments, and aquatic
biota has been reported to be beyond the acceptable
range. The most commonly found pesticides
are organochlorine, namely, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane,
hexachlorocyclohexane, endosulfan,
heptachlor, lindane, dieldrin, aldrin, endrin,
and others. The paper discusses the general description,
classification, and toxicity of pesticides;
it also aims to create public awareness among
people and appraise them with various alternate methods to combat the problem of pesticide contamination.
An attempt has also been made to elucidate
the findings of various works on pesticides
in aquatic system and to highlight the challenging
aspects of pesticide contamination, which have
not attracted the attention of investigators yet.
