Abstract

BEDMAR, F; GIANELLI, V; ANGELINI, H  and  VIGLIANCHINO, L. Riesgo de contaminación del agua subterránea con plaguicidas en la cuenca del arroyo El Cardalito, Argentina. RIA. Rev. investig. agropecu. [online]. 2015, vol.41, n.1, pp.70-82. ISSN 1669-2314.

The basin of El Cardalito stream (102.6 km2) is located in the southeast of Buenos Aires province (Argentina), near the city of Mar del Plata. An important horticultural belt with intensive use of agrochemicals is located in it. The objective of this work was to estimate the potential risk of leaching of the most commonly used herbicides, insecticides and fungicides in the basin. For this purpose, we used the Retardation Factor (RF) and the Attenuation Factor log transformed (AFT) indexes. Both RF and AFT were calculated for the A, B and C horizons of the five soil series that integrate the watershed, as well as for the complete soil profile, taking into account their properties and depth. According to the RF, the leaching potential of the pesticides was higher in the C horizon, compared to A and B horizons or the complete profile. In the C horizon, the insecticides with higher mobility were Carbofuran, Methamidophos, Pirimicarb, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam. In the case of fungicides, the highest mobility was found in Fosetyl-aluminium, Captan, Zineb and Carbendazim. On the other hand, 12 of the 25 studied herbicides had high mobility, particularly Dicamba, Picloram and Naptalam. The AFT values indicated that for most of the pesticides, the risk of leaching was higher in the C horizon, followed by A and B horizons. In all cases, the risk of leaching increased with water recharge, reaching its maximum at 2.3 mm day-1. Finally, considering the soil profile, leaching of most pesticides evaluated, except Picloram, would range between unlikely and very unlikely for all the studied recharges (0.3, 1.1 y 2.3 mm day-1). The indices used are valuable tools for estimating the vulnerability of aquifers due to leaching of pesticides, however it is essential to perform field monitoring to verify the degree of association with reality.

Keywords : Retardation Factor; Attenuation Factor; Leaching; Herbicides; Insecticides; Fungicides.

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