Pesticides in groundwater in Britain

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Abstract
The maximum admissible concentration (MAC) stated by the Directive from the European Community is 0.1 μg 1‐1 for individual pesticides, and groundwaters with levels above this require treatment by law before being supplied for drinking purposes. However the 1980 Directive is the subject of debate due to its absence of a toxicological assessment. This paper discusses some of the arguments for setting MAC values for pesticides in drinking water. The pesticides that have been most frequently detected in groundwaters in England and Wales are the triazines namely simazine and atrazine. These pesticides are herbicides emanating from diffuse mainly non agricultural situations, for example weed control operations on industrial sites, railways and road edges. Although agricultural herbicides are used in much greater tonnages that the triazines, the former are only occasionally noted in groundwater samples.