Pesticide monitoring as emerging pollutants in rivers in northeast Portugal

Pesticides are emerging micropollutants used in agriculture to protect crops from possible pests and / or diseases. The intense application of these pesticides has caused contamination of water resources. Because of this, the study of water quality is currently an increasingly relevant area of research. Pollutants have become increasingly complex, posing a potential danger not only to aquatic fauna and flora but also to humans. To accompany the increase in the number of contaminants and their complexity in water bodies, it is important to develop and optimize new experimental methodologies for the identification and quantification of this type of emerging contaminants. The aim of this study is to develop an experimental methodology based on the use of solid phase extraction (SPE) and / or solid phase microextraction (SPME), followed by analysis by diode array liquid chromatography (HPLC–DAD) and/or by mass spectrometrygas chromatography (GC-MS). Optimizing this method is a technique that reduces the use of solvents, achieves high recovery rates, is robust, safe and reliable when compared to other methods already existing in the study of pesticides. After the optimization of the method will be made analysis of samples collected in different rivers of Bragança, to validate the methodology and identify the possible presence of these contaminants in the rivers of the region.