Occurrence and determination of a herbicide benthiocarb in rivers and agricultural drainages

The occurrence and determination of a herbicide, benthiocarb, 4-chlorobenzyl N,N-diethylthiolcarbamate (Saturn^®) in rivers and agricultural drainages was investigated. Benthiocarb residues were detected in water samples when it has been applied to rice paddies, after rice seedling transplantation, in concentrations of between 10.00 and 0.11 μg/l. These residues entered into rivers and agricultural drainages as a result of overflows from rice paddies. However, benthiocarb residues could not be found in water samples after the termination of its application to rice paddies, suggesting that the applied benthiocarb might be degraded by microbial and physico-chemical actions such as photochemical reactions occurring on the soil surface. Benthiocarb residue levels were higher in longer rivers than in agricultural drainage. The contribution of rainfall to the benthiocarb concentrations was shown. Benthiocarb in water was extracted with n-hexane and identified by a gas chromatography using a flame photometric detector (sulphur filter 394 nm) and a combined gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-computer system. The minimum detectable amount of benthiocarb in water sample by gas chromatography was 0.56 ng and about 100 ng of benthiocarb could be identified by a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-computer system.