Assessment of the Fate of Selected Adsorptive Pesticides at ADAS Rosemaund

Data are presented on four pesticides applied to agricultural land at the Agricultural Development Advisory Service, Rosemaund, in the west of England. The farm covers a well-defined and isolated water basin of cracking heavy clay loam soils drained by a single stream. Levels of the relatively particle-bound pesticides trifluralin, deltamethrin, chlorpyrifos and fenpropimorph were measured in drainage water and field soils following application. Observed concentrations in water were generally below 1 μg/l with occasional peak levels exceeding 10 μg/l during storm rainfall events. Unexpectedly high peak levels of deltamethrin of around 2 μg/l highlighted significant bypass flow mechanisms from the surface soils during the autumn. Additional bioassay experiments showed that levels of chlorpyrifos, lethal to Gammarus pulex, reached the stream during spring 1993. The Rosemaund farm has been the site of a continuing investigation into the movement of agricultural pesticides to surface waters since 1987, and this report represents the final work conducted in the autumn of 1992 and spring 1993.