Chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos degradation products in golf course leachate

Chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos are commonly used to control disease and insect pests on golf course greens. While they are relatively immobile in the soil profile, their respective soil degradation products, 4-hydroxy-2,5,6-trichloroisophthalonitrile and 3,5,6-trichloropyridin-2-ol are more polar and may be present in golf course green leachate. To investigate this possibility, six stainless steel lysimeters were constructed into two practice greens at a country club in a northern Atlanta, Georgia suburb. Over a period of 1 year after rainfall events, lysimeter leachate samples were collected into glass bottles, filtered and directly analyzed by HPLC with UV detection. Chlorpyrifos was not detected in any sample and chlorothalonil was detected only in one sample, at a concentration of 0.12 mg liter-1. With a limit of quantitation of 0.05 mg liter-1, hydroxychlorothalonil and trichloropyridinol were detected in 87% and 63% of the samples at maximum and median concentrations of 2.21 and 0.55 mg liter-1 for hydroxychlorothalonil and 1.77 and 0.15 mg liter-1 for trichloropyridinol. Golf course green leachate often mixes with surface water, thus more data may be warranted to determine the persistence and ecological significance of chronic exposure to these compounds of organisms in the aquatic environment.