Influence of surface/groundwater interaction on pollution by pesticides in farmlands of the Fucino Plain, central Italy

Abstract

This paper analyses flow and transport of pesticides from the unsaturated zone to groundwater so as to predict concentration of those contaminants in the Fucino Plain's groundwater, by site investigations and numerical simulations. Pesticides were detected in surface water (peaks of 13 mu g L(-1)) and groundwater (peaks of 0.37 mu g L(-1)). Modelling tools made it possible to identify that pattern of precipitation, organic matter content, and root thickness are the key factors involved in vertical seepage of pesticides. Numerical simulations indicated that a significant fraction of contaminants is leached from the most surficial soil layers through runoff, while only a secondary fraction is mobilised towards groundwater. Likelihood of contaminating deep groundwater is fairly low, whereas surface waters show higher susceptibility. Results of the proposed conceptual hydrogeological model show that pesticides are more likely to be entrained by mixing of stream water with shallow groundwater in periods of high water exploitation from shallow wells

Raman Spectroscopy of Human Neuronal and Epidermal Cells Exposed to an Insecticide Mixture of Chlorpyrifos and Deltamethrin

“…Recently, the use of combined insecticides has been increasing to improve their effects because of the resistance that insects have developed to such chemicals. In addition, increasing amounts of pesticide mixtures have been found in both surface and underground water 1–3 due to the intense use of such products in agriculture. As a result, aquatic and soil organisms, even though they are not the specific targets of such chemicals, often suffer their deleterious effects.…”

Environmental tracers and indicators bringing together groundwater, surface water and groundwater-dependent ecosystems: importance of scale in choosing relevant tools

“…It is now broadly recognised that global and local anthropogenic activities are severely threatening groundwaterdependent ecosystems (GDEs) in general and groundwater-surface water (GW-SW) interfaces in particular (Hancock 2002). Abundant urban contaminants, agriculture (Soulsby et al 2001;Pacioni et al 2010), industry (Engelhardt et al 2011), mining activities (Gandy et al 2007;Smerdon et al 2012), road and tunnel construction (Kvaerner and Snilsberg 2008), forestry (Rossi et al 2012), hydropower regulation (Reno ¨fa ¨lt et al 2010), and channelization (Petalas 2013) exert a pronounced impact on water systems, and pose a risk to the related ecosystems. Alteration of water quantity and quality threatens the function of hyporheic/hypolentic zone (HZ), that corresponds to the space below the stream/lake bed (Winter 2001) where GW and SW mix, and exposes productive riparian zones to the risk of degradation and possible disappearance.…”