Modeling the fate of paddy field pesticide in surface water and environmental risk assessment

The risk of drinking water is greatly concerned because of the large amount of pesticide applied to paddy field and the contamination of drinking water sources due to the runoff. A mathematical model is developed, based on the mass balance, to predict the fate of paddy field pesticides from application, runoff and mixing in a river, taking account of the physical-chemical properties and processes of volatilization, degradation, adsorption and desorption. The model is applied to a river basin in Japan to estimate the contaminant level of several popularly used pesticides at the water intakes. The health risk in drinking water induced by each pesticide concerned is estimated and evaluated by comparing with the acceptable daily intake values (ADI) and with that induced by trihalomethanes. An index to evaluate the total risk of all pesticides appearing in water is proposed. The methods for risk management are also discussed.