Contamination of Water: Chapter 7 - Contamination of groundwater resources by pesticides

Pesticides have the potential to contaminate groundwater resources and have become a serious concern worldwide. Groundwater is an important reservoir for life, as it readily dissolves the pesticides that reaches it from different sources through anthropogenic activities. There are several direct and indirect routes of pesticides build up in groundwater including leaching, rain, and agricultural and soil runoffs; although, sometimes concentration seems to be below acute toxicity levels. Nevertheless, its long-term exposure exhibits a chronic impact on human health. Moreover, a wide range of pesticides is known for their acute and chronic effects on human health even at low concentrations. Understanding the toxic effects of pesticides is of great interest to the human, animal, and environmental health risk assessment processes. In this context, several working bodies including the World Health Organization and the US Environmental Protection Agency progressively involved minimizing pesticide pollution and its management by providing guidelines for good practices of pesticide application. Here, in this chapter, we have discussed the mechanism of pesticide pollution along with its trajectory from the land surface into aquifers. Additionally, the harmful effects of pesticides on human health and promising remedies for reducing pesticide pollution have also been discussed.