title: Field evaluation of two risk indicators for predicting likelihood of pesticide transport to surface water from two orchards.
abstract: Two pesticide risk indicators, Pesticide Impact Rating Index (PIRI) and Environmental Potential Risk Indicator for Pesticides (EPRIP), were used to determine the likelihood of off-site transport to surface water of pesticides used in a cherry (Prunus avium cultivars) and an apple (Malus domestica cultivars) orchard. The predictions of off-site transport of some of the pesticides were verified against actual pesticide concentrations in surface water continuously monitored over two years. To our knowledge, only one other study in the published literature has attempted this. Of the chemicals monitored there was good agreement between the predictions and the field measurements from the apple orchard, but less so for the cherry orchard. In both risk indicators the attenuation factor based on the width of the buffer strip over-estimated the effectiveness of the buffer strip. There was good agreement between the EPRIP and PIRI risk assessment except for ethephon which EPRIP rated a higher risk than PIRI and dithianon which EPRIP rated a lower risk than PIRI. A strong correlation was found between the field observations and the EPRIP predicted environmental concentrations for the majority of cases. This study showed that even simple risk indicators (e.g. PIRI and EPRIP) can be good predictors for a first tier risk assessment of pesticide transport to neighbouring water bodies.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. Electronic address: Danni.Oliver@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Danielle P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia; School of Agriculture, Food & Wine, University of Adelaide, PMB 1, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. Electronic address: Rai.Kookana@csiro.au.
authors.forename: Rai S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Kookana
authors.affiliation: Formerly CSIRO Land and Water, Australia. Electronic address: jennifer.anderson9@bigpond.com.
authors.forename: Jenny S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Land and Water, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA 5064, Australia. Electronic address: ben@ictinternational.com.au.
authors.forename: Beng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Umali
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D007306:Insecticides / Q000032:analysis*; D027845:Malus / Q000254:growth & development; D000068220:Prunus avium / Q000254:growth & development; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013021:South Australia; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D007306:Insecticides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: EPRIP; Field monitoring; Fungicides; Insecticides; PIRI