ORGANOCHLORINE PESTICIDE RESIDUES IN SURFACE WATER OF THE DRINI RIVER (ALBANIA)

Pollution from organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) of inland water became a global concern, since most of these compounds are very persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic compounds. The Drini river basin is located in the Western Balkans between Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro. The changes after the 90's have been associated with several problems of anthropogenic pollution and other problems as erosion, flooding and the input of potentially toxic hydrophobic organic pollutants (HOPs) into the river. A number of 9 organochlorine pesticides were detected in water of the river Drini in 21 surface water samples at 7 sampling sites were collected in 4 seasons of 2011-2012. The total concentration of OCPs (Sigma OCPs) in the river water ranged from 538 to 8389 ng/l. Many of the OCPs also exceeded established water quality criteria. The liquid-liquid (L/L) water extraction combined with gas chromatography (GC) technique equipped with micro electron-capture detector (mu ECD) was applied for pesticide residue analysis.