Drinking water and pesticides in banana growing areas Contamination of water sources with ethylenethiourea (ETU) in Matina County - Costa Rica

Sammanfattning: Costa Rica has an important banana-producing industry that requires vast amounts of pesticides. These can leak into the environment and cause health effects. The most widely used pesticide is mancozeb, which is rapidly degraded to the carcinogenic and potentially groundwater-contaminating metabolite ETU. This study was executed in Matina, one of the most densely banana-cultivated areas of Costa Rica. The water supply in 37 villages was surveyed and 136 drinking water samples from households where analysed for ETU. Large differences in drinking water control were observed in the villages. Although the majority of households are connected to communal distribution systems, the inhabitants of some villages are still dependent upon their own solutions for water supply such as private wells. ETU was found in some of the groundwater sources that were sampled. It was concluded that private wells were the most vulnerable to contamination, but even the water from two communal, deeper wells was affected.