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Title: PERSISTENCE AND RUNOFF LOSSES OF 3 HERBICIDES AND CHLORPYTRIFOS FROM A CORNFIELD IN THE LAKE BALATON WATERSHED OF HUNGARY

Author
item FERENCZI, JUDIT - HUNGARIAN PLT&SOIL CONSER
item AMBRUS, ARPAD - INT. ATOM.ENGY AGY,GERMAN
item Wauchope, Robert - Don

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Science and Health
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/2/2002
Publication Date: 2/1/2002
Citation: FERENCZI, J., AMBRUS, A., WAUCHOPE, R.D. PERSISTENCE AND RUNOFF LOSSES OF 3 HERBICIDES AND CHLORPYTRIFOS FROM A CORNFIELD IN THE LAKE BALATON WATERSHED OF HUNGARY. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND HEALTH B37:211-224. 2002.

Interpretive Summary: Lake Balaton is "Hungary's Ocean" a large fresh water lake entirely surrounded by Hungary, a country which is otherwise isolated from an ocean. As such it is by far the most important water resource in the country and one of the most important in Eastern Europe. Lake Balaton is surrounded by a rich agricultural area which is intensively farmed, and large amounts of pesticides are used in the watershed. In order to explore the degradation, transport and potential for water pollution of these chemicals a cooperative research program was established through the joint US/Hungarian Fund for agricultural research. Runoff and pesticide losses from two near-replicate cornfields were measured, and these results supplemented in the second year with a "worst-case" simulated rainfall experiment which generated runoff water on smaller sub-plots within the watersheds just 24 hours after chemical application. The results indicate that preemergence corn herbicides show the same potential for nonpoint pollution here as in the US corn belt, and BMP's are needed to decrease inputs of these chemical into this important water resource.

Technical Abstract: Corn is intensively cultivated in western Hungary in the basin of Lake Balaton, one of the most important water resources in eastern Europe. Pesticide runoff was measured in 1996 and 1997 from a typical corn field near Zalaegerszeg, Hungary which drains into the Zala River, an important water source of Lake Balaton. Three herbicides, atrazine, acetochlor and propizochlor, and the insecticide chlorpyrifos were applied to bare soil in a field with 5% slope and soil and runoff water pesticide concentrations were monitored. In 1997 a rainfall-runoff simulation experiment was conducted on a small sub-plot in order to measure pesticide runoff under reasonable worst-case conditions. Under natural rainfall almost all losses occurred in a large runoff event in 1996 one month after application in which 3% of atrazine and 1% of acetochlor was transported off the field. Propizochlor and chlorpyrifos losses in the same event were much lower: 0.2% and <0.01%, respectively, because of these chemicals' shorter persistence times in near-surface soil. The rainfall simulation produced only trace amounts of losses even though 4.1 cm was applied in 2 hours; the soil was extremely dry and only 0.2 cm runoff occurred containing less than 0.01% of all chemicals applied. The results suggest that intensive use of corn herbicides, which have been found to result in widespread contamination of water resources elsewhere, may be expected to have the same impact in the Balaton watershed depending on the amounts and intensities used in the basin.