Assessment of Russian regions vulnerability to groundwater pollution with pesticides

Abstract

Abstract The predisposition of the region to groundwater pollution by pesticides depends on climatic and soil factors, characteristics of the aquifer system, the type of the territory management, physicochemical properties of used pesticides and timing of their application. The applying of computer models for vulnerability assessment allows to consider the influence of factors affecting the migration of substances through the soil profile. Agricultural districts of Russia were grouped by basic climatic parameters -average annual temperatures and rainfall. 9 large regions with uniform climatic characteristics were obtained. The combination of climatic and soil parameters of each region made up a standard scenario, which was implemented as input files to the pesticide fate model PEARL. As an indicator of the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide contamination, we used the predicted weighted average annual pesticide concentrations in leachate at a depth of 1 m. Calculations showed the highest vulnerability was in Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Pskov, Vladivostok, intermediate one - in Novosibirsk, and the lowest ones - in Kurgan, Saratov, Kursk and Krasnodar.