Py. Caux et al., FATE AND IMPACT OF PESTICIDES APPLIED TO POTATO CULTURES - THE NICOLET-RIVER BASIN, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety, 33(2), 1996, pp. 175-185
The fate of cash-crop (potato) pesticides was monitored from the field
s on which they were applied to the nearby streams. The investigation
took place in the Nicolet River basin in the province of Quebec, Canad
a. The main pesticides under study were aldicarb, fenvalerate, metribu
zin, and phorate. Aldicarb was never detected in any of the samples. T
he other pesticides were all detected in soils at low concentrations.
Only fenvalerate and metribuzin were detected in tile drain. Metribuzi
n concentrations of up to 0.25 mu g/g were detected in the soil giving
rise to a concentration of 1.3 mu g/liter in tile drain and 47.1 mu g
/liter in surface runoff. Low concentrations of metribuzin up to 0.41
mu g/liter were detected in the nearby streams. The CREAMS model simul
ating pesticide movement in the fields overestimated metribuzin losses
in the runoff at a concentration of 107 mu g/liter. The subsurface EX
PRES model using a PRZM time series adequately estimated a metribuzin
held subsurface runoff concentration of 0.5 mu g/liter. According to t
he Canadian Water Quality Guideline for the protection of aquatic life
, the concentrations of pesticides found in surface waters of this pot
ato-growing region of Quebec do not have a potential to impact on the
aquatic life in these systems. (C) 1996 Academic Press, Inc.