Due to the extensive use of glyphosate-based herbicides,
glyphosate and its major metabolite AMPA have frequently been
detected in water bodies. Both glyphosate and AMPA are water
soluble and can persist in aquatic environments for several weeks
(Giesy et al., 2000). According to a review (WRc Plc, 2009),
glyphosate was detected in about 30% and AMPA in 50% of samples
collected across Europe in 1993–2009. The highest observed
concentrations were: glyphosate – 50 g L−1, AMPA – 49 g L−1.
AMPA has usually been detected in higher concentrations and in
a larger proportion of samples than glyphosate. High concentrations
of glyphosate (up to 328 g L−1) have also been recently
reported in USA (B