Grantee Research Project Results

Final Report: Alachlor and Atrazine Losses from Runoff and Erosion in the Blue River Basin

EPA Grant Number: R825549C030
Subproject: this is subproject number 030 , established and managed by the Center Director under grant R825549
(EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
Center: Water Innovation Network for Sustainable Small Systems
Center Director: Reckhow, David A.
Title: Alachlor and Atrazine Losses from Runoff and Erosion in the Blue River Basin
Investigators: Steichen, James M. , Barnes, Philip L. , Shelton, David , Dickey, Elbert
Institution: Kansas State University , University of Nebraska at Lincoln
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: January 1, 1989 through June 30, 1994
Project Amount: Refer to main center abstract for funding details.
RFA: Hazardous Substance Research Centers - HSRC (1989) RFA Text |  Recipients Lists
Research Category: Hazardous Waste/Remediation , Land and Waste Management

Objective:

This project will measure the influences of soil texture, slope, incorporation method, and tillage practice on the movement of herbicides caused by water runoff and soil erosion. Specific objectives are: 1) measure the losses of alachlor and atrazine through runoff and erosion from cropland and determine relationships to tillage practice, pesticide incorporation method, land slope, and soil texture; and 2) develop rainfall intensity-duration versus runoff (sediment-herbicide concentration) curves for various soil types, slopes, and tillage practices for worst case situations where runoff occurs immediately after herbicide applications.

Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):

Alachlor and atrazine are commonly used herbicides that have been detected in surface runoff including the Blue River which is a tributary of Tuttle Creek Lake. Tuttle Creek Lake, a flood protection and recreation lake in Kansas, is not presently used as a water supply. This is likely to change as the demand for water increases. The drainage area for Tuttle Creek Lake includes 9,628 square miles of the Blue River Basin in Kansas and Nebraska. Major crops produced in the Blue River Basin are grain sorghum, corn, soybeans, and wheat. The soils tend to be silty clay loams and clay loams having slopes from O to 18 percent. Controlling erosion on these soils is the major problem associated with crop production.

The selective herbicides, alachlor and atrazine, are used for controlling unwanted grasses and broadleaf weeds. In 1985, approximately 33 percent of the soybeans grown in Kansas and Nebraska received an application of alachlor. Similarly, more than 50 percent of the corn received an atrazine application and over 15 percent received an alachlor application. These herbicides can be applied at different times in crop production, either early preplan" surface applied, preplan" incorporated, or post plant surface applied with a range in dates from early April through late June. This corresponds to the time in which the Blue River Basin receives about one-half of its erosion-causing rains. Thus, a critical period exists following herbicide application since the potential for runoff and erosion is high.

Tillage and planting system choice strongly influences the movement of soil, and possibly herbicides, into surface water. Much of the Blue River Basin has been classified as highly erodible land. In response to the 1985 Food Security Act, many farmers and land owners have developed and are beginning to implement approved conservation plans to reduce soil erosion. In the Midwest, approximately 85 percent of the plans specify that conservation tillage will be used. Defined by residue cover, conservation tillage leaves at least 30 percent of the soil surface covered with residue after planting. Residue keeps the soil from being detached by raindrops and slows the rate of water runoff, which reduces the transport of detached soil particles.

Conservation tillage generally decreases the amount of weed control that can be accomplished with tillage. This may increase reliance on herbicides. However, the rates of application should not increase when compared to conventional tillage and planting systems.

Four farmer-owned sites were selected for the field measurements. The two sites in Kansas have a medium textured soil on 4 and 8 percent slopes. The two sites in Nebraska have a finer textured soil on 4 and 6 percent slopes. Three tillage and planting systems having three herbicide treatments were evaluated at each site. The tillage systems included: a traditional moldboard plow system which leaves little surface residue, a commonly used disk system which may leave about 30 percent residue cover, and a no-till system that may leave about 50 percent cover. On each of these treatments, there was a no herbicide check and a surface applied alachlor and atrazine treatment. For the plow and disk tillage systems, there was also an incorporated alachlor and atrazine treatment. Each of these treatments is replicated three times for a total of 24 plots at each site.

Final spring tillage, atrazine and alachlor application, and planting were done immediately before erosion and runoff measurements were made in May and June of 1991. A portable rotating boom rainfall simulator was used to apply water at a rate of 2.5 inches per hour for one hour. After a 15 minute rest period of no rainfall, a second storm having an intensity of 5.0 inches per hour was applied for a 15 minute period. Runoff water and sediment samples were taken throughout the rainfall application period to be analyzed for the presence of alachlor and atrazine.

On the downhill end of the 30 foot long by 10 foot wide plots, collection flumes were installed to bring all the runoff to a single stream for sampling purposes. After runoff began, runoff and erosion measurements were initiated. Immediately after taking a runoff measurement, two samples were taken in glass jars, to be analyzed in the lab, to determine sediment, atrazine, and alachlor concentrations in the runoff. This sampling procedure was repeated every 3 to 5 minutes for the duration of the run. The samples for herbicide concentration determination were refrigerated and transported to KSU for analysis. The erosion and runoff loss data were analyzed at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The Biological & Agricultural Engineering Department at Kansas State University developed an analytical laboratory for analyzing the runoff water and sediment samples for herbicide concentration. A Hewlett-Packard 5890 Series II Gas Chromatograph was purchased for making the pesticide analyses. The nitrogen-phosphorus detector was used for making determinations.

For every plot, samples were composited so that there were four filtered runoff water samples and one sediment sample. A sample splitter designed by USGS was used to split samples and make the composite samples. Samples were filtered through Whatman #2 filter paper to separate sediment from water. The runoff samples represented runoff from the early.

Journal Articles:

No journal articles submitted with this report: View all 8 publications for this subproject

Supplemental Keywords:

atrazine, alachlor, tillage practice, pesticide management, RFA, Ecosystem Protection/Environmental Exposure & Risk, Scientific Discipline, Geographic Area, Water, Waste, Hazardous, Remediation, EPA Region, Fate & Transport, Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Contaminated Sediments, Hazardous Waste, Geochemistry, Ecology and Ecosystems, contaminant transport, contaminated sediment, pesticides, sediment treatment, pesticide residue, fate and transport , hazardous wate, Region 8, phytoremediation, groundwater contamination, contaminated groundwater, groundwater remediation, contaminated soil, Region 7, groundwater, pesticide runoff, fate and transport, soil and groundwater remediation, chemical kinetics, land use

Relevant Websites:

http://www.engg.ksu.edu/HSRC Exit

Progress and Final Reports:

Original Abstract

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

Main Center Abstract and Reports:

R825549    Water Innovation Network for Sustainable Small Systems

Subprojects under this Center: (EPA does not fund or establish subprojects; EPA awards and manages the overall grant for this center).
R825549C006 Fate of Trichloroethylene (TCE) in Plant/Soil Systems
R825549C007 Experimental Study of Stabilization/Solidification of Hazardous Wastes
R825549C008 Modeling Dissolved Oxygen, Nitrate and Pesticide Contamination in the Subsurface Environment
R825549C009 Vadose Zone Decontamination by Air Venting
R825549C010 Thermochemical Treatment of Hazardous Wastes
R825549C011 Development, Characterization and Evaluation of Adsorbent Regeneration Processes for Treament of Hazardous Waste
R825549C012 Computer Method to Estimate Safe Level Water Quality Concentrations for Organic Chemicals
R825549C013 Removal of Nitrogenous Pesticides from Rural Well-Water Supplies by Enzymatic Ozonation Process
R825549C014 The Characterization and Treatment of Hazardous Materials from Metal/Mineral Processing Wastes
R825549C015 Adsorption of Hazardous Substances onto Soil Constituents
R825549C016 Reclamation of Metal and Mining Contaminated Superfund Sites using Sewage Sludge/Fly Ash Amendment
R825549C017 Metal Recovery and Reuse Using an Integrated Vermiculite Ion Exchange - Acid Recovery System
R825549C018 Removal of Heavy Metals from Hazardous Wastes by Protein Complexation for their Ultimate Recovery and Reuse
R825549C019 Development of In-situ Biodegradation Technology
R825549C020 Migration and Biodegradation of Pentachlorophenol in Soil Environment
R825549C021 Deep-Rooted Poplar Trees as an Innovative Treatment Technology for Pesticide and Toxic Organics Removal from Soil and Groundwater
R825549C022 In-situ Soil and Aquifer Decontaminaiton using Hydrogen Peroxide and Fenton's Reagent
R825549C023 Simulation of Three-Dimensional Transport of Hazardous Chemicals in Heterogeneous Soil Cores Using X-ray Computed Tomography
R825549C024 The Response of Natural Groundwater Bacteria to Groundwater Contamination by Gasoline in a Karst Region
R825549C025 An Electrochemical Method for Acid Mine Drainage Remediation and Metals Recovery
R825549C026 Sulfide Size and Morphology Identificaiton for Remediation of Acid Producing Mine Wastes
R825549C027 Heavy Metals Removal from Dilute Aqueous Solutions using Biopolymers
R825549C028 Neutron Activation Analysis for Heavy Metal Contaminants in the Environment
R825549C029 Reducing Heavy Metal Availability to Perennial Grasses and Row-Crops Grown on Contaminated Soils and Mine Spoils
R825549C030 Alachlor and Atrazine Losses from Runoff and Erosion in the Blue River Basin
R825549C031 Biodetoxification of Mixed Solid and Hazardous Wastes by Staged Anaerobic Fermentation Conducted at Separate Redox and pH Environments
R825549C032 Time Dependent Movement of Dioxin and Related Compounds in Soil
R825549C033 Impact of Soil Microflora on Revegetation Efforts in Southeast Kansas
R825549C034 Modeling the use of Plants in Remediation of Soil and Groundwater Contaminated by Hazardous Organic Substances
R825549C035 Development of Electrochemical Processes for Improved Treatment of Lead Wastes
R825549C036 Innovative Treatment and Bank Stabilization of Metals-Contaminated Soils and Tailings along Whitewood Creek, South Dakota
R825549C037 Formation and Transformation of Pesticide Degradation Products Under Various Electron Acceptor Conditions
R825549C038 The Effect of Redox Conditions on Transformations of Carbon Tetrachloride
R825549C039 Remediation of Soil Contaminated with an Organic Phase
R825549C040 Intelligent Process Design and Control for the Minimization of Waste Production and Treatment of Hazardous Waste
R825549C041 Heavy Metals Removal from Contaminated Water Solutions
R825549C042 Metals Soil Pollution and Vegetative Remediation
R825549C043 Fate and Transport of Munitions Residues in Contaminated Soil
R825549C044 The Role of Metallic Iron in the Biotransformation of Chlorinated Xenobiotics
R825549C045 Use of Vegetation to Enhance Bioremediation of Surface Soils Contaminated with Pesticide Wastes
R825549C046 Fate and Transport of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides in Soil: The Impacts of Vegetation
R825549C047 Vegetative Interceptor Zones for Containment of Heavy Metal Pollutants
R825549C048 Acid-Producing Metalliferous Waste Reclamation by Material Reprocessing and Vegetative Stabilization
R825549C049 Laboratory and Field Evaluation of Upward Mobilization and Photodegradation of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins and Furans in Soil
R825549C050 Evaluation of Biosparging Performance and Process Fundamentals for Site Remediation
R825549C051 Field Scale Bioremediation: Relationship of Parent Compound Disappearance to Humification, Mineralization, Leaching, Volatilization of Transformaiton Intermediates
R825549C052 Chelating Extraction of Heavy Metals from Contaminated Soils
R825549C053 Application of Anaerobic and Multiple-Electron-Acceptor Bioremediation to Chlorinated Aliphatic Subsurface Contamination
R825549C054 Application of PGNAA Remote Sensing Methods to Real-Time, Non-Intrusive Determination of Contaminant Profiles in Soils
R825549C055 Design and Development of an Innovative Industrial Scale Process to Economically Treat Waste Zinc Residues
R825549C056 Remediation of Soils Contaminated with Wood-Treatment Chemicals (PCP and Creosote)
R825549C057 Effects of Surfactants on the Bioavailability and Biodegradation of Contaminants in Soils
R825549C058 Contaminant Binding to the Humin Fraction of Soil Organic Matter
R825549C059 Identifying Ground-Water Threats from Improperly Abandoned Boreholes
R825549C060 Uptake of BTEX Compounds by Hybrid Poplar Trees in Hazardous Waste Remediation
R825549C061 Biofilm Barriers for Waste Containment
R825549C062 Plant Assisted Remediation of Soil and Groundwater Contaminated by Hazardous Organic Substances: Experimental and Modeling Studies
R825549C063 Extension of Laboratory Validated Treatment and Remediation Technologies to Field Problems in Aquifer Soil and Water Contamination by Organic Waste Chemicals