Determination of insecticide residues in groundwater of Mardan Division, NWFP, Pakistan: a case study.

Abstract

Insecticide residue values in groundwater samples from Mardan Division, North-Western Frontier Province, Pakistan, are reported in this paper. The samples were extracted with dichloromethane and analysed on a gas chromatograph equipped with an electron capture detector (ECD- 3 Ni) using a capillary column. Contamination levels in all sites were found to be below the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) set by the European Community (EC), except for three sites namely Amber, Swabi (0.82 μg/l), Lahore Shakh, Chota Lahore (0.50 μg/l) and Madras Kalay, Mardan (0.64 μg/l). Correlation between water depth and insecticide residues was ill-defined. Loss in recovery due to the matrix effect was found to be 10 to 20%.