Characterization and Modeling of Chemical Transfer to Runoff

Abstract

The release and migration of nutrients, pesticides, and other chemicals from agricultural lands is both an economic loss and a threat to the quality of our surface and ground waters. This problem was recognized more than two decades ago, and a large number of investigations on the subject have taken place since the early 1970s. In the United States, the research has been stimulated by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (PL 92-500), which specify that the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shall, in cooperation with State and other Federal agencies, provide guidelines for identifying and evaluating the nature and extent of nonpoint sources of pollution.