Simulation of pesticide runoff at Rosemaund Farm (UK) using the SoilFug model

A validation exercise of the SoilFug model using field runoff data from Rosemaund Farm (UK) is described. A comparison has been made of modelled and measured concentrations of several pesticides in surface water and soil during and after specific rain events following application. The field experiments were designed to obtain data on rainfall, outflows of water, pesticide application rates and concentrations in soil and water. The results were satisfactory for the undissociated pesticides (atrazine, carbofuran, dimethoate, isoproturon, lindane, simazine and trifluralin), whose concentrations in water were mostly predicted within an order of magnitude of measured data. The results for the dissociated pesticides (dichlorprop, MCPA, mecoprop) were less satisfactory, giving generally much higher predicted concentrations in water. The use of the SoilFug model is suggested for the calculation of predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) in water, since it generally produces acceptable results from a relatively small set of input data, most of which is generally available.