Detection and Extraction of Pesticides from Drinking Water Using Nanotechnologies

Intensive farming, rapid industrialization, and increasingly sophisticated lifestyles have added artificial chemicals into many water bodies. Although pesticide residues in groundwater were unexpected years ago as soil was thought to act as a filter, it is an established fact that water derived from groundwater sources is contaminated with them in many parts of the world. Even though these levels are significant vis-à-vis the permissible limits, the concentrations are low in comparison to those of other commonly encountered chemicals, and purification technologies have to be efficient for them to be removed at affordable cost. In addition, the process kinetics has to be reasonably fast so that the amount of adsorbent required is minimal. For such a solution to be useful for all strata of society, the solution should be economically attractive, requiring zero electricity and minimum maintenance. It is imperative to understand that any novel technology should solve drinking water contamination problems in their entirety and not result in toxic by-products or residuals. These offer numerous challenges to chemistry and engineering, some of which are discussed in this chapter with selected examples. © 2009 William Andrew Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.