The first report of selected herbicides and fungicides in water and fish from a highly utilized and polluted freshwater urban impoundment

Many of South Africa's freshwater impoundments are compromised by pesticide pollution, and the Roodeplaat Dam, near Pretoria, is no exception. This paper is, to the best of our knowledge, the first report of the herbicides Dacthal, metribuzin, simazine, tebuthiuron, terbuthylazine, and the fungicides azoxystrobin, carbendazim, epoxiconazole, metalaxyl (Ridomil), propiconazole, pyrimethanil and thiabendazole in a South African freshwater impoundment. This short note reports on the screening results of water and muscle tissue samples against a comprehensive library of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in the polluted Roodeplaat Dam. Muscle samples ofOreochromis mossambicusscreened positive forp,p'-DDE andp,p'-DDD and for DCPA (chlorthal-methyl). The muscle tissue ofClarias gariepinusscreened positive forp,p'-DDE andp,p'-DDD, chlorpyrifos,trans-chlordane, DCPA and terbuthylazine. The presence of these pesticides, herbicides and fungicides in this impoundment is of great concern as there is substantial evidence of adverse health effects in fish exposed to these chemicals.