Innovative uses of vegetated drainage ditches for reducing agricultural runoff

Vegetated agricultural ditches play an important role in mitigation of pesticides following irrigation and storm runoff events. In a simulated runoff event in the Mississippi (USA) Delta, the mitigation capacity of a drainage ditch using the pyrethroid esfenvalerate (Asana XL) was evaluated. The pes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water science and technology 2004-01, Vol.49 (3), p.117-123
Main Authors: Cooper, C M, Moore, M T, Bennett, E R, Smith, Jr, S, Farris, J L, Milam, C D, Shields, Jr, F D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agricultural management
Agricultural production
Agricultural runoff
Agriculture
Agrochemicals
Aquatic plants
Biodegradation, Environmental
Computer simulation
Ditches
Drainage ditches
Engineering
Environment Design
Geologic Sediments - chemistry
Insecticides
Insecticides - isolation & purification
Nitriles
Pesticides
Plants
Pyrethrins - isolation & purification
Pyrethroids
Runoff
Storm runoff
Vegetation
Water Movements
Water Pollutants, Chemical - isolation & purification
Water Pollution - prevention & control
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Summary:Vegetated agricultural ditches play an important role in mitigation of pesticides following irrigation and storm runoff events. In a simulated runoff event in the Mississippi (USA) Delta, the mitigation capacity of a drainage ditch using the pyrethroid esfenvalerate (Asana XL) was evaluated. The pesticide was amended to soil prior to the runoff event to simulate actual runoff, ensuring the presence of esfenvalerate in both water and suspended particulate phases. Water, sediment, and plant samples were collected temporally and spatially along the drainage ditch. Even with mixing of the pesticide with soil before application, approximately 99% of measured esfenvalerate was associated with ditch vegetation (Ludwigia peploides, Polygonum amphibium, and Leersia oryzoides) three hours following event initiation. This trend continued for the 112 d study duration. Simple modeling results also suggest that aqueous concentrations of esfenvalerate could be mitigated to 0.1% of the initial exposure concentration within 510 m of a vegetated ditch. Observed field half-lives in water, sediment, and plant were 0.12 d, 9 d, and 1.3 d, respectively. These results validate the role vegetation plays in the mitigation of pesticides, and that ditches are an indispensable component of the agricultural production landscape.
ISSN:0273-1223
1996-9732
DOI:10.2166/wst.2004.0176