MODELING THE FATE OF AGRICULTURAL PESTICIDES IN AUSTRALIA

Pesticide fate models are being introduced to supplement existing tech niques for assessing the environmental fate of new agricultural chemic als in Australia. Some of the issues surrounding the use of chemical f ate models for hazard assessment are discussed, including the transfer ability of models developed in the US, the data required by the models , and the place of chemical fate models in the hazard assessment proce ss. The one-dimensional pesticide fate model LEACHM is used to demonst rate the capabilities of this important class of model. Some simple te sts are conducted to determine whether the model can adequately differ entiate between different chemicals and the different climates and soi l types found at two test sites. A summary of a comprehensive sensitiv ity analysis is presented.