Fungicide field concentrations exceed FOCUS surface water predictions: urgent need of model improvement

FOCUS models are used in European regulatory risk assessment to predict the frequency and magnitude of individual pesticide surface water concentrations. A recent study showed that these models are not protective in the prediction of insecticide concentrations in surface waters and sediments. Since fungicides differ with regard to their physicochemical properties, application patterns, and entry routes, we compared a larger data set of 417 measured field concentrations (MFC) of agricultural fungicides in surface waters and sediments from 56 studies to the respective predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) calculated with FOCUS step 1-4. Although the fraction of the underestimation of fungicide MFC values was generally lower than that obtained for insecticides, 12% of step 3 and 23% of step 4 PECs were exceeded by surface water MFCs. Taking only the 90th percentile concentration of every substance and only E.U. studies into account (E.U. studies: n = 327; 90th percentile + E.U. studies: n = 136), a maximum of 25% of the step 3 and 43% of the step 4 PECs were exceeded by surface water MFCs, which is an even worse outcome than that obtained for insecticides. Our results demonstrate that FOCUS predictions are neither protective nor appropriate for predicting fungicide concentrations in the field in the context of European pesticide risk assessment.