Status of lakes and streams

Results from regional measurements

The regional pesticide database (RPD) was created in 2001 to collect information from the studies of pesticides being carried out around Sweden. It is managed by the Division of Water Quality Management at SLU and is funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The oldest data in the RPD are from 1985. The database provides the potential to discuss the incidence of pesticides in aquatic environments and any trends occurring over the years. The studies that form the basis for the database vary in both scope and objective. They include everything from occasional spot samples analysed for a few substances to more comprehensive investigation programmes.

 The RPD contains (December 2007) the results of pesticide analyses performed on 12 048 samples from all the counties of Sweden and over 80% of its municipalities. The largest proportion of samples now comes from groundwater (68%), having increased since the end of the 1990s. The results per area and water type are available (in Swedish only) on-line via the link to the right (see pesticide database).

The proportion of findings with a total pesticide concentration of over 0.5 µg/litre has decreased over the years. This can be due to the proportion of groundwater samples having increased during the same period. A lower concentration of pesticides can be expected in groundwater due to the movement of the water through the soil profile. The fact that the number of samples with a total concentration exceeding 0.1 µg/litre has increased is mainly because the limits of detection for a number of substances have decreased and thus more substances can be found at lower concentrations.

Pesticide findings as a proportion of the total number of samples from all waters in each year. The distribution of total concentrations in the samples is shown in different ranges. The figures above the bars show the total number of samples each year. Source: Mirja Törnquist, SLU