Intra-annual trends of fungicide residues in waters from vineyard areas in La Rioja region of northern Spain

41 páginas, 5 tablas, 7 figuras, material suplementario (4 tablas). -- The final publication is available at www.springerlink.comThe temporal trends of fungicides in surface and ground water in 90 samples, including both surface waters (12) and ground waters (78) from an extensive vineyard area located in La Rioja (Spain), were examined between September 2010 and September 2011. Fungicides are used in increasing amounts on vines in many countries, and they may reach the water resources. However, few data have been published on fungicides in waters, with herbicides being the most frequently monitored compounds. The presence, distribution and year-long evolution of 17 fungicides widely used in the region and a degradation product were evaluated in waters during four sampling campaigns. All the fungicides included in the study were detected at one or more of the points sampled during the four campaigns. Metalaxyl, its metabolite GA-92370, penconazole and tebuconazole were the fungicides detected in the greatest number of samples, although myclobutanil, CGA-92370 and triadimenol were detected at the highest concentrations. The highest levels of individual fungicides were found in Rioja Alavesa, with concentrations of up to 25.52 μgL−1, and more than 40 % of the samples recorded a total concentration of >0.5 μgL−1. More than six fungicides were positively identified in a third of the ground and surface waters in all the sampling campaigns. There were no significant differences between the results obtained in the four sampling campaigns and corroborated a pattern of diffuse contamination from the use of fungicides. The results confirm that natural waters in the study area are extremely vulnerable to contamination by fungicides and highlight the need to implement strategies to prevent and control water contamination by these compound.His work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MINECO/FEDER UE) (project AGL2010-15976/AGR). E. Herrero-Hernández thanks CSIC for his JAE-Doc contract co-financed by the European Structural and Social Funds (FEDER-FSE) and E. Pose-Juan thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation for her Juan de la Cierva contract.Peer reviewe