Environmental photochemical fate of pesticides on Pontal do Paranapanema water bodies

• Grant number: 19/00696-1
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2019 - June 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Sanitary Engineering - Water Resources
• Principal Investigator: Marcela Prado Silva Parizi
• Grantee: Marcela Prado Silva Parizi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Antonio Carlos Silva Costa Teixeira

Abstract

Brazil occupies a prominent place in the international scenario regarding ethanol production. The country is the largest sugarcane producer in the world, with 56% of the production coming from the state of São Paulo. The expressiveness of the sugarcane sector in São Paulo is also evidenced by the expansion of sugarcane cultivation in the region of Pontal do Paranapanema, where the area destined to sugarcane cultivation has increased over 400% in twelve years. Combined with the high productivity of the sugar and alcohol industry is the increasing application of pesticides, becoming a matter of concern for the society, authorities and the scientific community due to issues associated with health risks arising from the gradual ingestion of these products that contaminate water, soil and food. Among the pesticides used in sugarcane cultivations are atrazine (ATZ), ametrine (AMT) and diuron (DIR). These herbicides are often detected in groundwater and surface waters of different regions of the world, including water bodies in the state of São Paulo. The knowledge about the fate of these compounds in the environment is essential to assess their potential impacts. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate the environmental fate of pesticides, since works with this aim are very scarce in the literature. The present research project aims to investigate the degradation of the pesticides ATZ, AMT and DIR in surface waters of Pontal do Paranapanema region as a result of photochemical reactions and to understand how their persistency vary over the year. This project aims to bring original scientific contributions in a context marked by a great concern about the preservation of water resources and the intensive use of agrochemicals in Brazil. (AU)