Review of Pesticide Retention Processes Occurring in Buffer Strips Receiving Agricultural Runoff¹

Abstract

Arora, Kapil, Steven K. Mickelson, Matthew J. Helmers, and James L. Baker, 2010. Review of Pesticide Retention Processes Occurring in Buffer Strips Receiving Agricultural Runoff. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(3):618‐647. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00438.x Abstract: Review of the published results shows that the retention of the two pesticide carrier phases (runoff volume and sediment mass) influences pesticide mass transport through buffer strips. Data averaged across different studies showed that the buffer strips retained 45% of runoff volume (ranging between 0 and 100%) and 76% of sediment mass (ranging between 2 and 100%). Sorption (soil sorption coefficient, Koc) is one key pesticide property affecting its transport with the two carrier phases through buffer strips. Data from different studies for pesticide mass retention for weakly (Koc < 100), moderately (100 < Koc < 1,000), and strongly sorbed pesticides (Koc > 1,000) averaged (with ranges) 61 (0‐100), 63 (0‐100), and 76 (53‐100) %, respectively. Because there are more data for runoff volume and sediment mass retention, the average retentions of both carrier phases were used to calculate that the buffer strips would retain 45% of weakly to moderately sorbed and 70% of strongly sorbed pesticides on an average basis. As pesticide mass retention presented is only an average across several studies with different experimental setups, the application of these results to actual field conditions should be carefully examined.

Contemporary changes in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in human‐dominated rivers: is there a role for DOC management?

“…Finally, in contrast to its potential role as a bulk DOC source, riparian buffer strips can be highly effective at reducing pesticide loads, retaining anywhere from 30 to 99% of inputs, depending on sorption properties and pesticide type (Kay et al. , 2009; Arora et al. , 2010).…”

Vegetative Buffer Strips for Reducing Herbicide Transport in Runoff: Effects of Buffer Width, Vegetation, and Season

“…The combination of buffer width and placement will ultimately determine the SBAR. In field settings, this ratio is expected to be 10:1 or greater (Arora et al ., ; Lin et al ., 2011a; Neitsch et al ., ). In general, VBS effectiveness will increase with decreasing SBAR (Liu et al ., ; Zhang et al ., ; Lin et al ., 2011a).…”

An Assessment of Disproportionate Costs in WFD: The Experience of Emilia-Romagna

“…This loss is reduced to 5% in the case of the substitution of the banned pesticides with other accepted chemicals [37]. Finally, with regard to dosage reductions, the implementation cost corresponds to the reduction per hectare of the gross farm income associated with the application of integrated pest management, as estimated in Annex 3 of the Regional Rural Development Plan 2007-2013 [23].…”