Abstract

"Pallickal River is one of the smallest river of Kerala, it originate from the cliffs of ‘Nellimukal’ in Pathanamthitta. People are making use of this river water for their domestic use and agriculture. This river system is less studied by the scientific community. Influx of water into this river is mainly from nearby agricultural paddy fields, where intensive chemical fertilizers and pesticides are in use. The purity of water for portable and other domestic use is to be scientifically assessed. For this assessment pesticide analysis can be used to determine the purity status of the river water. The pesticide residue analysis of Pallickal River water revealed that, these chemicals pose a huge threat to this River. Among organophosphorous pesticides Malathione (4.08 mg / l) and Methidathione (2.644mg/l) reported highest concentration. Pyrithroid Cypermethrin ( 4.05 mg/l) Cyfluthrin- B (2.33 mg/l) Deltamethrin (2.38 mg/l) showed a slight increase in concentration. Carbamate pesticides, Oxamyl (0.918 mg/l) and Thiodicarb (1.97 mg / l) showed a high concentration among fungicides, Indofil (1.419 mg/l) and Hexaconazole ( 1.296 mg/l) showed highest concentration. Herbicide such as 2,4-D(2.39 mg/l) Oxyfluorfen ( 2.638mg/l) and Pendimethalin ( 2.186mg/l) showed highest concentration. The study revealed that the water from the river Pallickal is of moderate quality "

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