Photo credit: Anokarina

A new study has detected neonicotinoid insecticides in raw and treated drinking water in water from the lower Great Lakes in southern Ontario, Canada, an area dominated by intensive agriculture. Researchers sampled raw and treated drinking water at six water treatment facilities. Neonicotinoid insecticides were detected in raw and treated water but with much lower frequency in the treated drinking water. The neonicotinoid, thiamethoxam, was detected in one raw drinking water sample at levels above the guidelines for drinking water recommendations. “Further work is required to determine whether contamination of sources of drinking water with this class of insecticides is a global problem in agricultural regions,” the researchers wrote.