Hi Rik, Because of the low ...

Hi Rik,

Because of the low concentrations of pesticides and the specialised equipment needed to do the analysis, this can only be done in a well-equipped laboratory and usually at significant costs. The best thing to do would be to avoid leaching of high quantities of pesticides by better application in agriculture. In many cases application to crops is to high and spraying techniques could be improved. The bulk of pesticides may also be absorbed in the top soil. We just gave a training in pesticide application techniques in Ethiopia to improve application.

For nutrients and trace elements cheap strip tests are available (e.g. nitrate, nitrite, phosphate) that will give an estimate of concentrations, and a colorimeter/spectrophotometer could be used to test the other parameters in the field. Colorimeters are affordable in a project and the required reagents are not too expensive either. Tests can be carried out in a few minutes. Please contact me if you want to know more about this (maarten.waterloo@acaciawater.com).

Regards, Maarten