A COMPARATIVE HYGIENIC ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF PESTICIDE AND HEAVY METAL POLLUTION IN THE DNIESTER AND PRUT RIVER

Objectives. Water is essential for maintaining health, and a shortage of it or water of poor quality can have detrimental consequences on both the population's health and the nation's development. The study's goal is to compare the hygienic assessments of the Dniester and Prut rivers' water quality based on their levels of pesticides and heavy metals. Material and methods. In the study were used hygienic, descriptive, statistical, analytical methods. Results. In the vast majority of analyzed samples, the water quality in terms of pesticide content (DDT, endrin, atrazine, simazine, HCH) from the Dniester and Prut rivers corresponds to quality classes I and II, making it suitable for drinking after a simple treatment. However, the Dniester River's water, which is ranked IV in terms of quality, does not fulfill the standards for drinking water since it contains levels of deldrin and aldrin that cannot be removed without the use of sophisticated treatment techniques. Additionally, small concentrations of heavy metals (Mn, K, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, Zn, As) were recorded in the analyzed water samples, which corresponds to surface water quality class I. Conclusions. The quality of water in the rivers, especially according to the content of pesticides and heavy metals, is certified as pollution class I-II. Overall, the water quality meets the requirements for aquatic ecosystems that can serve as sources of drinking water, but the cumulative and synergistic effect, which is not studied so far, is not excluded