Concentrations of human health-related microorganisms in runoff from agricultural plots (0.75 m x 2 m) treated with fresh and aged cattle manure, swine slurry and no manure (control) were determined. Three consecutive simulated rainfall events, producing 35 mm rainfall and separated by 24 h, were carried out for each plot. Fecal indicator (Escherichia coli, enterococci, Clostridium perfringens ...

Field runoff is an important transport mechanism by which agricultural pesticides, including atrazine, move into the hydrologic environment. Atrazine is chosen because it is widely used, is transported in runoff relatively easily, is widely observed in surface waters, and has relatively little loss in the stream network. Data on runoff of atrazine from experimental plot and field studies is com...

Treatment of polluting discharges from abandoned mines is producing large quantities of ochre (mainly iron (III) oxides) for which no major end-use has yet been identified. At the same time, phosphorus pollution is a serious threat to the water environment in industrialised countries, causing eutrophication, algal blooms, fish kills and loss of water resources. Newcastle and Edinburgh Universit...

A review of the literature reporting the methods and results of studies concerned with the nature of nonpoint source microbial pollution leads to several conclusions: (i) Comparison f data from different studies may be complicated by variation in the choice of indicator organisms, variation in watershed size and homogeneity, and variation in media and procedures for determining fecal streptococ...

Agricultural runoff into surface water is a problem in Australia, as it is in arguably all agriculturally active countries. While farm practices and resource management measures are employed to reduce downstream effects, they are often either technically insufficient or practically unsustainable. Therefore, consumers may still be exposed to agrichemicals whenever they turn on the tap. For rural...

Simulation modeling is widely used to assess water contamination risk associated with pesticide use and for evaluating effectiveness of agricultural conservation practices. Currently the Agricultural Policy/Environmental eXtender (APEX) model is being used for this purpose in the USDA Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) Cropland National Assessment. In support of the CEAP modeling ef...

Potential contamination (pollution) of surface waters with sediment, nutrients, and pesticides in agricultural runoff is an important water quality issue. Conservation tillage has been promoted and adopted by many row crop farmers because of its effectiveness in decreasing exposure to rainfall and reducing runoff and sediment loss. Vegetative filter strips (VFS), also known as buffer strips or ...

The primary objective of the present study was to test whether agricultural chemical runoff was associated with in-stream genotoxicity in native fish. Using Sacramento sucker (Catostomus occidentalis), we combined field-caging experiments in an agriculturally dominated watershed with controlled laboratory exposures to field-collected water samples, and we coupled genotoxicity biomarker measurem...