Objective To examine the distribution pattern and potential health risks of triazine pesticide residues in the drinking water in Shenzhen city, China.
Methods The contamination and distribution of 13 triazine pesticides in the drinking water of Shenzhen city were investigated by solid-phase extraction in tandem with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the health risks of these pesticides were evaluated using the carcinogenic risk (CR) and non-carcinogenic hazard index (HI) of US EPA.
Results The concentrations of the 13 pesticides in drinking water ranged from 6.9 to 157.0 ng/L, with an average concentration of 87.2±43.3 ng/L. Atrazine and propoxur were the main triazine pesticides in the drinking water of Shenzhen city. Total pesticide concentration was slightly higher in September (93.1 ng/L) than in April (81.2 ng/L). The primary pesticide in drinking water was propoxur (46.3 ng/L) in April, and atrazine (64.0 ng/L) in September. Health risk assessment results showed that the CR and HI values did not exceed the adverse reaction cutoffs. Atrazine had the highest average CR (3.2×10-7) and HI (4.6×10-4).
Conclusion Triazine pesticides in the drinking water of Shenzhen did not pose significant carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks.
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