PESTIPOND: A descriptive model of pesticide fate in artificial ponds: II. Model application and evaluation

Some artificial ponds (APs) are designed to collect part of the agricultural water fluxes and dissipate pesticide contamination through a synergy of physicochemical processes. APs act as buffer zones and mitigate pesticide transfer of farm plots to natural water resources. As part of a two-paper series, this paper addresses the application and validation of the PESTIPOND model. PESTIPOND is a process-based model developed to predict pesticides' behavior and distribution in APs located in drained agricultural catchments. Paper I (Bahi et al., 2023a) describes the development and sensitivity analysis of the model. PESTIPOND was applied on the Rampillon AP to characterize the fate of seven different pesticides and five monitoring periods while considering the key transfer and transformation processes. The model was assessed through various methods against the observed data in simulating pesticide dynamics. The statistical and graphical evaluation of PESTIPOND reflected a good performance except for boscalid. The sensitivity analysis and application of the model evidenced that adsorption-desorption and biotransformation in the pond water are major processes behind pesticide dissipation. Hydrophobic and lowly mobile pesticides are more likely to be bio-transformed at the water-sediment interface. This work highlights the link between the hydraulic residential time (HRT), temperature, and APs' efficiency in minimizing pesticide transfer into the environment. The model predicted that the actual efficiency of the AP covering 0.15% of the drained catchment would double if the pond's surface area covered at least 1% of the catchment. Moreover, the model's predictions evidenced that a temperature rise of 10 degrees C will increase the dissipation of pesticides by only 8%. PESTIPOND provides key elements that are useful to design and manage ponds with optimal efficiency. Hence, these APs can be complementary solutions to pesticide use regulation to reduce the transfer of agricultural contamination into freshwater resources.

Automated summary

This study validates the use of the PESTIPOND model to assess the efficacy of artificial ponds in mitigating pesticide transfer in agricultural catchments. The model performs well and provides key elements for designing and managing artificial ponds with optimal efficiency. These ponds can serve as complementary solutions to pesticide use regulation in reducing agricultural contamination of freshwater resources.