Abiotic persistence of atrazine and simazine in water
1999
Comber, S.D.W.
Hydrolysis and photolysis experiments have been undertaken to investigate the abiotic persistence of atrazine and simazine in a variety of waters. Hydrolysis only occurs to a significant extent at pH values at the lower limit of those found in the natural aquatic environment (pH 4.0 or less). Photolysis was initiated by a wide range of wavelengths in waters at pH 4.0, but only by more energetic wavelengths of less than 300 nm at higher pH values (pH 6 to 8). Based on these data, the aquatic half-life of atrazine and simazine in well-lit acidic upland waters will be typically six days. In lowland rivers with higher pH (7 to 8.5), these triazines are likely to exhibit half-lives of months rather than days. In groundwaters, atrazine and simazine will have half-lives in the order of years, due to the exceedingly slow rate of hydrolysis.
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