Seepage patterns of Diuron in a ditch bed during a sequence of flood events

Although ditches limit surface water contamination, groundwater recharge through ditches in Mediterranean catchments may result in groundwater contamination. We analysed the dynamics of pesticide percolation in ditches by conducting an original lab experiment that mimicked the successive percolation processes that occur during a flood season. Nine successive percolation events were operated on an undisturbed soil column collected from a ditch bed. The infiltrating water was doped with (14)C-Diuron at concentrations that were chosen to decrease between the events so as to correspond to values observed during actual flood events. The water and solute fluxes were monitored during each event, and the final extractable and non-extractable Diuron residues in the column were determined. Two main observations were made. First, a high leaching potential was observed through the ditch bed over a succession of infiltrating flood events, with 58.9% of the infiltrated Diuron and its metabolites leaching. Second, compared with the contamination of surface water circulating in the ditches, the contamination of seepage water exhibited smaller peak values and persisted much longer because of the desorption of Diuron residues stored in the ditch bed. Thus, ditches serve as buffering zones between surface and groundwater. However, compared with field plots, ditches appear to be a preferential location for the percolation of pesticides into groundwater at the catchment scale.