Abstract

ZANINI, Josiela et al. Atrazine herbicide removal through a combination of slow sand filtration and granular activated carbon filters. Rev. Téc. Ing. Univ. Zulia [online]. 2014, vol.37, n.2, pp.125-134. ISSN 0254-0770.

The increased contamination of watercourses by pesticides along with better knowledge of the harmful properties of these pollutants, have increased the interest on the removal of these compounds during treatment of drinking water. Since pesticides consisting of biologically active molecules and hard to remove by conventional water treatment, the use of slow sand filters followed by activated carbon filters may represent an efficient system for water treatment. Considering these aspects, this study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of slow sand filtration and filtration using granular activated carbon (GAC) in the removal of the herbicide atrazine in bench scale and the determination of phenotypic and genotypic composition of the microorganisms involved in this herbicide degradation. The average removal efficiency of atrazine was 97.3% and the registered concentrations on final effluent were lower than the 2/µL permitted by Brazilian legislation for drinking water (Decree no. 518, of march 25 2004), enabling the use of the adopted system in the removal of the evaluated pesticide, ensuring the water quality for its distribution and human consumption.

Keywords : atrazine; sand filters; activated carbon; water treatment; drinking water.

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