Review on the removal and degradation methods of chloridazon and its metabolites

Due to their excessive use, pesticides are considered emerging micropollutants in water. The risk induced comes not only from their presence in surface and groundwater and the inability of conventional water treatments to fully eliminate them, but also from their transformation products in the environment. The latter are reported to be more persistent and more difficult to treat than their parent compounds. In addition to this, potentially more toxic degradation products can be formed following treatments. Given the pollution of drinking water, as recently highlighted in the Hauts-de-France region by the metabolites of the herbicide chloridazon, and the risk they induce on human health and the environment, this review was written in order to summarize all the methods of remediation with regard to chloridazon and its metabolites, whether they are removal or degradation methods, and to compare the effectiveness of the treatments. In addition, the degradation products known in the literature are reported and a brief overlook on their toxicological properties is discussed, shedding light on the lack of data for these compounds.