CalBMP, a web-based modeling tool for evaluating pesticide offsite movement and best management practice scenarios in California agricultural land

Abstract

Quantitative evaluation of best management practice (BMP) effectiveness can help stakeholders to make better watershed management decisions. However, such evaluations are always challenging as they require complex algorithms to simulate the relevant hydrological processes, crop growth and the corresponding pollutant transport pathways in order to evaluate potential BMPs and select the best one for the specific field conditions. In this study, a web-based interface (CalBMP) was developed to predict BMP effectiveness in California, focusing on pesticide modeling at the field scale. With built-in databases for soil, weather, crop, pesticides, and BMPs, users can run simulations for baseline and BMP scenarios using their site-specific field conditions by simply providing the field information, such as zip code, soil, crop management, and pesticide application data. CalBMP uses PRZM5 + , a USEPA model, to simulate pesticide transport and fate at the field edge. The CalBMP simulations were validated based on measurements from an alfalfa field study. The results indicated that the CalBMP interface could reasonably simulate the runoff and adsorbed pesticide loss leaving the field with default parameters from previously known field parameters or public databases. CalBMP underestimated sediment erosion, possibly due to uncertainties in field measurements or inaccurate simulation of the temporal distribution of flood irrigation. CalBMP is likely to underestimate pesticides with greater solubility, such as diuron, because PRZM5 + uses the simplified instantaneous equilibrium sorption model. In addition, a strawberry field study was adopted to demonstrate the capability of the CalBMP interface for simulating BMP effectiveness (pesticide reduction percentage in the main pathways) with easy-to-understand graphs and tables. The results indicated that users can easily compare and review the results from multiple scenarios, which could facilitate the decision-making process for mitigating the amount of active ingredient bifenthrin leaving the field. The CalBMP tool provides useful information on pesticide runoff potential and BMP selection at the field scale. With increasingly stringent regulations for water quality protection, CalBMP will add to the growers’ toolbox for minimizing the environmental impacts from their inevitable pesticide usage.