Pesticide pollution of soil, water and air in Delhi area, India.

In India organochlorine insecticides such as DDT and HCH constitute more than 70% of the pesticides used at present. Its continued use has given interest to monitor for the last few years the extent of organochlorine insecticide residues in soil, water, air and rain water in Delhi area. Out of the 50 samples each of soil and earthworms collected from different parts 48 samples showed that soil and earthworms contained 0-2.61 and 0-37.74 mg Kg-1 of total DDT residues respectively. The area near the vicinity of the DDT factory showed high levels of DDT residues. A two-year survey of the Yamuna river in Delhi showed that water contained an average of 0.24 ug L-1 and the bottom sediment had 0.24 mg Kg-1 of total DDT residues. The fishes collected from the Yamuna river showed very high bioaccumulation of DDT residues. The air and rainwater samples monitored from 3 different areas for two years indicated that DDT was more near the DDT factory area while HCH was more near a commercial complex. These results indicate that the overall organochlorine-residue levels in Delhi is not alarming. It probably indicates that DDT and HCH are more rapidly dissipated and degraded in a tropical country like India.