The Groundwater Group, expected results

THE GROUNDWATER GROUP
Grundvandsgruppen

Det Strategiske Miljøforskningsprogram
The Danish Environmental Research Program

Expected results.

In the invitation to submit tenders for the subprogramme concerning "Pesticides and Groundwater", importance was attached to the following themes:

Development of methods to predict pesticide leaching.
Development of mathematical models to predict pesticide transport, including an evaluation of the validity of the models.
Investigation of the properties of various soils in the context of degradation of pesticides.
Investigation of the preferential flow and transport of pesticides in various soils.
Investigation of the fate of pesticides in the root zone, the interaction with different forms of land use, pesticide degradation with and without microbial activity, and of pesticide migration in aquifers.
Investigation of the impact of pesticide-polluted groundwater on wetlands, including transport, degradation, and sorption.
Development of methods for analysis of different types of pesticides and metabolites.

Together the three ongoing projects cover the mentioned themes, and the efforts are expected to result in a marked improvement of the knowledge and methods available for evaluating the risk of migration of pesticides and their degradation products. Therefore, the results are expected to become important for the planning of Denmark's future water supplies, including the choice of protection measures to prevent further deterioration of the groundwater resources.