Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

A Multiresidue Method for the Analysis of Pesticides in Water using Solid-Phase Extraction with Gas and Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

Applications of pesticides in agricultural and urban settings play an essential role in increasing crop yields, preserving food and materials, reducing pest-borne diseases, and eradicating or deterring pests. Pesticides are transported from their point of application to environmental media, including surface water. To better understand the fate of fate and transport of pesticides in the environment, analytical methods are necessary to measure pesticides in waters. Herein, a method is described for the extraction and analysis of pesticides and pesticide degradates in filtered surface water and paired suspended sediment samples. Water samples (~ 1 L) are filtered using 0.7 μm glass-fiber filters prior to being extracted and concentrated using hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) cartridges. Suspended sediment samples are extracted via ultrasonication, solid-liquid extraction. Analyses are completed using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Initial analyte recoveries in surface water samples spiked at 50 ng/L (n = 3) ranged 59.5-109% with an average recovery of 89.2%. The average relative standard deviation (RSD) was 4.9%. Calculated limits of detection (LODs) and reporting limits (RLs) from LODs ranged 0.5-10 ng/L and 1.5-30 ng/L, respectively. Analyte recoveries, method detection limits (MDLs), and RLs from MDLs were determined for surface water and suspended sediment following fortification of samples at 15 ng/L (n = 9). Recoveries were 70.1-121% in water and 71.1-117% in suspended sediment, with average recoveries of 87.0% and 85.5%, respectively. The method showed great reproducibility with an average RSD of 3.8% in water and 5.5% in suspended sediment. MDLs and RLs in water ranged 0.5-10.6 ng/L and 1.1-21.1 ng/L, respectively. In suspended sediment, MDLs ranged 0.7-11.8 ng/L and RLs ranged 1.5-23.7 ng/L. The analytical method will be applied toward the analysis of pesticides and degradates in surface water samples from around the United States.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-60660380d34eff1443439726
Data Last Modified 2024-02-01T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id de329bc9-1829-4dcc-b5be-cb64f936f5cf
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -121.43038, 38.55414, -121.41850, 38.56773
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash c42719d701a06cb123ee2b0fc7f83dccaeb2aec7f2d5bc1b2c91730bdc457178
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -121.43038, 38.55414, -121.43038, 38.56773, -121.41850, 38.56773, -121.41850, 38.55414, -121.43038, 38.55414}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.