A fugacity model of pesticide runoff to surface water: Development and validation

Real field data for pesticide release to surface water are compared with data obtained by simulations of a fugacity-derived model. This was done for several herbicides, applied on to two basins, characterized by different soil properties. The basin were hydraulically isolated and data for water input (rainfall and irrigation), output (outflowing surface water) were recorded, together with concentration of the investigated pesticides in the outflowing water. A fugacity model was developed to take into account the unsteady-state condition of the actual field treatments, since pesticides are typically applied once or twice on the same area. The model allows for several pesticide applications on different areas of the basin at different times and for different reaction half lives, that may change during the simulation time, depending on environmental conditions. A “user friendly” program for Windows ® was written, allowing for calculations and plotting of the results. The comparison between predicted and measured concentrations indicated that the model is a useful tool for the prediction of surface water concentration.