Assessment and Investigation on the Fate of Organochlorine Pesticides in Water and Sediments of International Amir-kalaye Wetland in North of Iran

A total of 48 water samples and 24 sediment samples were collected at four sampling stations along the wetland during four seasons from 2009 to 2010 and analyzed by gas chromatograph–electron capture detector (GC–ECD). In water the total concentration of OCPs was 0.33, 0.01, 0.1 and 0.07 mg/L in summer, autumn, winter and spring, respectively. The most frequent OCP compounds detected were endrin and chlordane (0.08 and 0.07 mg/L), heaxachlorobenzene and chlordane (0.06, 0.02 mg/L), and chlordane (0.07 mg/L) in summer, winter and spring, respectively. The maximum concentration of ΣOCPs was found in samples collected from station 1 in summer (0.26 mg/L). In sediments the total concentrations of OCPs were 15.84 and 2.62 mg/g-dry weight (dw) in summer and winter, respectively. Chlordane was the most frequently found OCP compound, followed by lindane, 9.92 and 2.47 mg/g-dry weight (dw), respectively, in summer. While, lindane (2.52 mg/g-dw) and endosulfan I (0.1 mg/g-dw) were the highest OCP compounds detected in winter. The results obtained in this study show that there still exist a variety of organochlorine pesticide residues in the water and sediments from the Amir-kalaye wetland in Iran.