Ecotoxicology of lindane and deltamethrin in aquatic environments

The persistence in water (in the presence or in the absence of sediment), the acute toxicity and the bioconcentration capacities of lindane and of deltamethrin were studied under laboratory conditions. There is a significant decrease in the persistence in water of both insecticides, when there is sediment in water. Nevertheless, deltamethrin is much less persistent in water than lindane, both in the presence and in the absence of sediment. Studies of acute toxicity showed that the toxicity of deltamethrin is about 100 to 1,000 times greater than that of lindane. The five species studied were similarly sensitive to the two insecticides.