Are spray drift losses to agricultural roads more important for surface water contamination than direct drift to surface waters?
Open access
Datum
2022-02-25Typ
- Journal Article
ETH Bibliographie
yes
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Abstract
Spray drift is considered a major pesticide transport pathway to surface waters. Current research and legislation usually only considers direct spray drift. However, also spray drift on roads and subsequent wash-off to surface waters was identified as a possible transport pathway. Hydraulic shortcuts (storm drainage inlets, channel drains, ditches) have been shown to connect roads to surface waters, thus increasing the risk of drift wash-off to surface waters. However, the importance of this pathway has never been assessed on larger scales. To address this knowledge gap, we studied 26 agricultural catchments with a predominance of arable cropping (n = 17) and vineyards (n = 9). In these study sites, we assessed the occurrence of shortcuts by field mapping. Afterwards, we modelled the areas of roads drained to surface waters using a high-resolution digital elevation model (0.5 m resolution) and a multiple flow algorithm. Finally, we modelled drift deposition to drained roads and surface waters using a spatially explicit, georeferenced spray drift model. Our results show that for most sites, the drift to drained roads is much larger than the direct drift to surface waters. In arable land sites, drift to roads exceeds the direct drift by a factor of 4.5 to 18, and in vineyard sites by 35 to 140. In arable land sites, drift to drained roads is rather small (0.0015% to 0.0049% of applied amount) compared to typical total pesticide losses to surface waters. However, substantial drift to drained roads in vineyard sites was found (0.063% to 0.20% of applied amount). Current literature suggests that major fractions of the drift deposited on roads can be washed off during rain events, especially for pesticides with low soil adsorption coefficients. For such pesticides and particularly in vineyards, spray drift wash-off from drained roads is therefore expected to be a major transport pathway to surface waters. Mehr anzeigen
Persistenter Link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000595948Publikationsstatus
publishedExterne Links
Zeitschrift / Serie
Science of The Total EnvironmentBand
Seiten / Artikelnummer
Verlag
ElsevierThema
Spray drift; Surface waters; Agriculture; Shortcuts; Pesticides; Road storm drainageOrganisationseinheit
03989 - Maurer, Max / Maurer, Max
ETH Bibliographie
yes
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