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 XLTM) 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.
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Research Article|
February 01 2004
Innovative uses of vegetated drainage ditches for reducing agricultural runoff
C.M. Cooper;
1USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Sedimentation Laboratory PO Box 1157, Oxford, Mississippi, USA 38655
E-mail: [email protected]
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M.T. Moore;
M.T. Moore
2USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Sedimentation Laboratory PO Box 1157, Oxford, Mississippi, USA 38655
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E.R. Bennett;
E.R. Bennett
3Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4
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S. Smith, Jr.;
S. Smith, Jr.
2USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Sedimentation Laboratory PO Box 1157, Oxford, Mississippi, USA 38655
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J.L. Farris;
J.L. Farris
4Environmental Sciences Program, PO Box 847, Arkansas State University, State University, Arkansas, 72467 USA
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C.D. Milam;
C.D. Milam
4Environmental Sciences Program, PO Box 847, Arkansas State University, State University, Arkansas, 72467 USA
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F.D. Shields, Jr.
F.D. Shields, Jr.
2USDA-Agricultural Research Service National Sedimentation Laboratory PO Box 1157, Oxford, Mississippi, USA 38655
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Water Sci Technol (2004) 49 (3): 117–123.
Citation
C.M. Cooper, M.T. Moore, E.R. Bennett, S. Smith, J.L. Farris, C.D. Milam, F.D. Shields; Innovative uses of vegetated drainage ditches for reducing agricultural runoff. Water Sci Technol 1 February 2004; 49 (3): 117–123. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2004.0176
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