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LEACHING MODELS FOR SUBSURFACE POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN AGROECOSYSTEMS
Citation:
Hantush*, M M., Z. ZHANG, V. Murray, AND M. A. Marino. LEACHING MODELS FOR SUBSURFACE POLLUTION ASSESSMENT IN AGROECOSYSTEMS. 1999 ASCE-CSCE Environmental Engineering Conference, Norfolk, VA, July 25 - 28, 1999. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Reston, VA, 177-186, (1999).
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
Unrestricted use of pesticides in agriculture threatens ground-water resources and can have adverse ecological impact on the nation's receiving surface waters. In this paper, we develop mass fraction models for exposure assessment and the regulation of agricultural organic chemicals. The models are obtained by applying the method of Laplace transformation to solute fate and transport equations. The models describe residual mass emissions of pesticides below the root zone, to the water table, and in aquifers. They emphasize the physical and biochemical processes responsible for the fate and transport of organic solutes in the subsurface and their relationship to chemical properties and a set of environmental factors. The potential of the use of the mass fraction models in the management of agriculture pesticides is also investigated. A combined modeling and ArcView GIS framework is used to assess soil and groundwater vulnerability to the pesticide dicamba (commonly used for soybean and grains) in an agricultural watershed in the Mid-Atlantic Coastal plain.