ToolboxLab TestingPesticide Detection Test

Labeled water sample bottles packed for certified lab analysis

Lab Testing

Pesticide Detection Test

Name: Pesticide Detection Test
Brand: Lake Pulse
Price: 235.00 USD
Availability: InStock

Nine legacy and high-priority contaminants, including atrazine — the compounds the broad panel does not cover.

$235

Checkout arrives with the store connection. Orders attach to the lake on your account.

Overview

This is a targeted panel, not a broad screen. It uses EPA Method 525.2 to detect nine specific high-priority compounds at parts-per-billion sensitivity: the legacy chlorinated pesticides and herbicides that persist in the environment for decades, plus two plasticizers and one combustion byproduct that commonly travel with them. Atrazine and simazine — the two most frequently detected herbicides in U.S. surface water — are the headline analytes. For lawn and turf weed killers such as 2,4-D, dicamba, and picloram, see the Herbicides Test.

Use it to:

Sample downstream from farms or golf courses
Check runoff carrying pesticides and plasticizers
Test water near mixed agricultural and industrial activity
Run a mixed-organics screen that goes beyond herbicides alone

What's measured & how

9 parameters · Legacy pesticide & priority contaminant panel (9 compounds)

What's measured & how for Pesticide Detection Test
Parameter	Result type	Unit	MDL	RL	Analytical method
Atrazine	Quantitative	µg/L	0.03	0.1	EPA 525.2
Simazine	Quantitative	µg/L	0.02	0.07	EPA 525.2
Alachlor	Quantitative	µg/L	0.02	0.2	EPA 525.2
Methoxychlor	Quantitative	µg/L	0.07	0.1	EPA 525.2
Hexachlorobenzene	Quantitative	µg/L	0.02	0.1	EPA 525.2
Hexachlorocyclopentadiene	Quantitative	µg/L	0.02	0.1	EPA 525.2
Benzo(a)pyrene	Quantitative	µg/L	0.01	0.02	EPA 525.2
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate	Quantitative	µg/L	0.3	0.6	EPA 525.2
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate	Quantitative	µg/L	0.49	0.6	EPA 525.2

Atrazine
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.03
RL:
0.1
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Simazine
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.02
RL:
0.07
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Alachlor
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.02
RL:
0.2
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Methoxychlor
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.07
RL:
0.1
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Hexachlorobenzene
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.02
RL:
0.1
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Hexachlorocyclopentadiene
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.02
RL:
0.1
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Benzo(a)pyrene
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.01
RL:
0.02
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.3
RL:
0.6
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate
Result type:
Quantitative
Unit:
µg/L
MDL:
0.49
RL:
0.6
Analytical method:
EPA 525.2

MDL = method detection limit. RL = reporting limit. Provided by the performing laboratory.

You get

Signed laboratory report, filed in your lake's Documents & Reports
Each result loaded into your lake's Data Library (Plus, Lake Admin, PRO)

How it's produced

Test type: Legacy pesticide & priority contaminant panel (9 compounds)
Sample: One surface-water grab sample, collected by you with the kit
Return shipping: Prepaid 2-day return to the laboratory
Analyzed by: Independent accredited partner laboratory, with full chain of custody
Method basis: EPA-approved
Turnaround: 10 business days from lab receipt
Analytical method: EPA 525.2

Product category

Physical ProductShips to you
ConsumableLab testing

Availability
Kit ships in 2 business days
Shipping
Flat-rate to your front door. Shipping details
SKU
SL-SL-SW-E-S-AD1

Example result

0.4 µg/L

Method: EPA 525.2

Below the 3 µg/L federal drinking-water MCL

Turnaround

Results are available within 10 business days of the lab receiving your sample.

What problem does this solve for our lake?

Some of the compounds on this panel were banned decades ago and are still being detected, because that is the defining property of legacy contaminants: they do not break down. Hexachlorobenzene and methoxychlor persist in sediment and bioaccumulate in fish long after their last application.
Others are still in heavy use. Atrazine is among the most widely applied herbicides in North America and among the most frequently detected chemicals in surface water anywhere near row-crop agriculture. It is persistent, mobile in groundwater, and has documented endocrine-disrupting effects on amphibians at low concentrations. Simazine behaves similarly and is common in both agricultural and residential settings.
The nine analytes, and what each signals:
Atrazine (MDL 0.03, RL 0.1 µg/L) and Simazine (MDL 0.02, RL 0.07) — triazine herbicides. Detection points to row-crop agriculture, roadside vegetation management, or turf treatment in the watershed.
Alachlor (MDL 0.02, RL 0.2) — an agricultural herbicide, toxic to fish and damaging to aquatic plants.
Methoxychlor (MDL 0.07, RL 0.1) and Hexachlorobenzene (MDL 0.02, RL 0.1) — legacy organochlorines. Both bioaccumulate; methoxychlor mimics estrogen in fish and wildlife.
Hexachlorocyclopentadiene (MDL 0.02, RL 0.1) — a pesticide manufacturing intermediate, acutely toxic to aquatic organisms.
Benzo(a)pyrene (MDL 0.01, RL 0.02) — a carcinogenic combustion byproduct, included here because it co-occurs with the others in runoff.
Bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate (MDL 0.3, RL 0.6) and Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MDL 0.49, RL 0.6) — plasticizers that leach from plastic, disrupt hormones in aquatic organisms, and persist in sediment.
Because these compounds persist, timing matters far less on this panel than on the current-use one. If atrazine is in your watershed, you can find it most of the year.

What's included?

A complete Pesticide Detection Test kit shipped directly to you
All materials required for clean, contamination-free sample collection
Step-by-step collection and preservation instructions
Prepaid 2-day return shipping to our accredited partner laboratory
Analysis by EPA Method 525.2 at an accredited partner laboratory, with full chain of custody
Results loaded automatically into your lake's account

What's not included

Sample collection. You collect the sample; we supply everything you need to do it correctly.
Boat, dock, or shoreline access to your sampling site
Depth-profile sampling. This is a single grab sample unless you order multiple kits.
Ice or a cooler for shipping, which you supply
Treatment, remediation, or applicator services
A written management plan. The Boathouse can help you interpret results and decide next steps.
Current-use insecticides and fungicides, such as neonicotinoids, strobilurins, triazoles, carbamates, and organophosphates
Chlorinated acid herbicides such as 2,4-D, dicamba, and picloram. Those are on the Herbicides Test.
Glyphosate, which requires a dedicated analysis
The full PAH suite. Only benzo(a)pyrene is included here; the Hydrocarbons Test covers 18 compounds.
Sediment analysis, where legacy organochlorines concentrate

Requirements

A sample collected in the container provided, filled completely with no headspace
Same-day shipment after collection, kept cold
No plastic contact beyond the containers supplied — the two plasticizer analytes are among the most common laboratory and field contaminants, and casual plastic handling can produce a false detection
A Plus, Lake Admin, or PRO subscription to have results loaded into your Lake Pulse account
Questions about site selection, timing, or which test fits your lake? Contact the Lake Pulse Boathouse before you order.

What you get back

Results

Nine compounds quantified in micrograms per liter (µg/L), each with its own detection and reporting limit
Direct comparison against the EPA drinking water maximum contaminant level for atrazine, which is 3 µg/L
A persistent-contaminant record that does not depend on catching the right week
Results load automatically into your lake's Data Library in the Lake Pulse Portal
Data can be charted in the Analytics Hub, used to trigger alerts, or shared with your board and members
A downloadable, signed lab report is filed in your lake's Documents & Reports for permanent reference
Results are found in your lake's portal, accessible only to Plus, Lake Admin, and PRO subscription tiers

Pro tips

Run this if there is row-crop agriculture in your watershed. Atrazine is the single most likely detection, and it is the one most likely to matter.
This is not the broad panel. Nine compounds, chosen for persistence and priority. If lawn or turf weed control is the concern, add the Herbicides Test.
Timing is forgiving here. Unlike current-use chemistry, these compounds persist, so a sample any time in the season will find them if they are present.
Treat a plasticizer detection skeptically. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate is ubiquitous and is one of the most common false positives in environmental labs. A single low detection is not evidence of a lake problem.
Compare atrazine against 3 µg/L. That is the federal drinking water limit and the number any agency conversation will start from.
Pair it with the Herbicides Test if your watershed has both farmland and treated lawns or turf. The two panels do not overlap.

Results sync to the Portal for Plus, Lake Admin, and PRO subscribers

Results from this product land in your lake's shared record in the Portal — next to everything else your lake has ever measured, instead of in an inbox.

Compare subscriptions

About these results

Every result shows the date and time the sample was collected. Results reflect one sample, collected at a specific place and depth, and analyzed by an independent accredited laboratory using the method listed on this page. Lake conditions change across a lake and over time, sometimes within hours, in ways a single sample may not capture. Every method has detection and reporting limits; where the laboratory provides them, they are reported with your results. A detection is not a diagnosis, and a non-detection does not prove absence. Results are not a regulatory or compliance determination unless the agency involved accepts them as one. Results can help you make decisions about safe swimming and water use, but no result is definitive for every place and time. It is always good practice to check posted signs and your state or local health authorities. Recommendations are options to consider; decisions, and responsibility for any action taken, rest with you.

Questions on this?

Our team can help you choose the right solution for your lake, explain how results sync to your Portal, or point you to the right subscription.

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