Hans Estrup Andersen

Preferential flow and colloidal facilitated transport via macopores connected to tile drains are the main pathways for pesticide transport from agricultural areas to surface waters in some area. We developed a macropore flow module and a sediment transport module for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate transport of both mobile (e.g. Bentazon) and strongly sorbed (e.g. Diuron) pesticides in tile drains. Macropore flow is initiated when soil water content exceeds a threshold and rainfall intensity exceeds infiltration capacity. The amount of macropore flow is calculated as a fraction of effective rainfall and transported to the tile drains directly. Macropore sediment transport is calculated similarly to the MACRO model (Jarvis et al., 1999). Mobile pesticide transport is calculated with a decay function with the flow, whereas sorbed pesticides transport is associated to macropore sediment transport. Simulated tile drain discharge, sediment and pesticide loads are calibrated against data from intensively monitored tile-drained fields and streams in Denmark.