Paradise lost? Pesticide pollution in a European region with considerable amount of traditional agriculture

Abstract Pesticide contamination of agricultural streams has widely been analysed in regions high intensity agriculture such as Western Europe or North America. The situation subject to low relying on human and animal labour, parts Romania, remains unknown. To close this gap, we determined concentrations 244 pesticides metabolites at 19 low-order streams, covering sites from a region Romania. Pesticides were sampled with two passive sampling methods (styrene-divinylbenzene (SDB) disks polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheets) during three rainfall events base flow. Using the toxic unit approach, assessed toxicity towards algae invertebrates. Up 50 pesticides detected simultaneously, resulting sum between 0.02 37 µg L-1. Both, concentration well toxicities similar range Europe. Different proxies did not relate in-stream pesticide toxicity, contradicting assumption previous studies. invertebrates was positively related large scale variables catchment size land use upstream small including riparian plant height, whereas showed no relationship any variables. Our results suggest that agriculture, despite minor reported agrochemicals, exhibit levels pollution agriculture.