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Regional‐Scale Leaching Assessments for Tenerife: Effect of Data Uncertainties
Author(s) -
DiazDiaz Ricardo,
Loague Keith
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2000.00472425002900030020x
Subject(s) - environmental science , groundwater recharge , environmental remediation , leaching (pedology) , pesticide , water resource management , aquifer , agrochemical , hydrology (agriculture) , groundwater , environmental engineering , contamination , soil water , agriculture , soil science , geography , engineering , agronomy , ecology , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , biology
This paper reports assessments of nonpoint‐source (NPS) ground water vulnerability due to pesticide leaching for the Canary Island of Tenerife. Index‐based estimates of contamination potential were made for the pesticides Carbofuran and Ethoprophos using the attenuation and retardation factors (AF and RF). The major objective this effort was to characterize the data‐related uncertainties, using first‐order uncertainty analysis, that are associated with the new pesticide leaching estimates for Tenerife. The crop, recharge, and soils data for Tenerife were overlaid in this regional‐scale study using a geographic information system approach. The strategy was to identify the effect of supplemental information in reducing uncertainties in the island‐wide vulnerability estimates. Data improvements were estimated as reductions in the AF and RF input parameter uncertainties. The greatest improvements in the Tenerife vulnerability estimates were found for reductions in the chemical data uncertainties. The new vulnerability assessments for Tenerife will be useful for future agrochemical regulation decisions and for targeting critical areas that may require remediation.