Pollution of Water Resources from Agricultural Fields and Its Control - Practices of Irrigation and On-farm Water Management - page 249

fertilizer application, controlling runoff and facilitating biological activities to
disintegrate harmful chemical compounds.

7.3.6.2 Impact of Pesticides and Other Chemicals

The persistent pollutants/agrochemicals degrade slightly, mostly by abiotic pro-
cesses like photolysis, hydrolysis, and oxidation. In the aquatic system, they undergo
bio-magnification through the food chain. During the movement through differ-
ent environmental components, the pesticides seriously affect the living organisms
encountered on the pathway. They are biodegraded very slowly and at minimum
by the biotic processes/organisms. Reversely, the nonpersistent pesticides biode-
grade very quickly by the biotic processes including microbes, and they do not
bio-magnify the food chain.
The pollutants/agrochemicals, particularly the extremely and highly hazardous
ones cause different hazards to the organisms in their respective habitats ranging up
to death. A list of such hazards to different organisms is provided below:

Hazards to fisheries :

• reduction of fish population

• reduced reproduction

• species endangered

Human health hazards :

• skin disease

• headache

• eye irritation

• respiratory problems

• immune system disorder

• reduced longevity

• reproductive disorder

• deformed fetus

• tumor

•

cancer

•

death

Hazards on wild life :

• reduction of wild population

• reproduction failure of wild species

• species endangered

Reduction in biodiversity
Hazards to apiculture/honeybee