GIS based ArcPRZM-3 model for bentazon leaching towards groundwater
Tahir Ali Akbar , Henry Lin
DOI:
Received November 09, 2009,Revised November 05, 2010, Accepted , Available online
Volume 22,2010,Pages 1854-1859
- Summary
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Groundwater contamination due to pesticide applications on agricultural lands is of great environmental concern. The mathematical
models help to understand the mechanism of pesticide leaching in soils towards groundwater. We developed a user-friendly model
called ArcPRZM-3 by integrating widely used Pesticide Root Zone Model version 3 (PRZM-3) using Visual Basic and Geographic
Information System (GIS) based Avenue programming. ArcPRZM-3 could be used to simulate pesticide leaching towards groundwater
with user-friendly input interfaces coupled with databases of crops, soils and pesticides. The outputs from ArcPRZM-3 could be
visualized in user-friendly formats of tables, charts and maps. In this study we evaluated ArcPRZM-3 model by simulating bentazon
leaching in soil towards groundwater. ArcPRZM-3 was applied to 37 sites in Woodru County, Arkansas, USA to observe the daily
average dissolved bentazon concentration for soybean, sorghum and rice at a depth of 1.8 m for a period of two years. Nineteen ranks
of bentazon leaching potential were obtained using ArcPRZM-3 for all sites having di erent soil and crop combinations. ArcPRZM-3
simulation results for bentazon were compatible with the field monitored data in term of relative ranking and trend, although some
uncertainties exist. This study indicated that macropore flow mechanism would be important in analyzing the e ect of irrigation on
groundwater contamination due to pesticides. Overall, ArcPRZM-3 could be used to simulate pesticide leaching towards groundwater
more e ciently and e ectively as compared to PRZM-3.
