GUIDELINES / 1.0 Water Quality

• 1.0 Introduction
• 1.1 Buffers and Land Management
• 1.2 Karst Landscapes
• 1.3 Frozen Soils
• 1.4 Target Buffers In Watersheds
• 1.5 Arrangement Near Sources
• 1.6 Buffer Site Design
• 1.7 Variable Buffer Width
• 1.8 Effective Buffer Area Ratio
• 1.9 Slope and Soil Type Adjustments
• 1.10 Buffers for Sediment
• 1.11 Buffers for Pathogens
• 1.12 Buffers for Nitrogen
• 1.13 Buffers for Phosphorus
• 1.14 Buffers for Pesticides
• 1.15 Buffers for Shallow Groundwater
• 1.16 Urban Runoff and Roadsides
• 1.17 Buffers and Grazing
• 1.18 Allowances for Bank Erosion
• 1.19 Buffer Width Design Tool for Surface Runoff
• 1.20 Vegetation for Removing Pollutants from Runoff
• 1.21 Stiff-stemmed Grass Barriers
• 1.22 Vegetation for Bank Erosion Control
• 1.23 In-Stream Pollutant Removal
• 1.24 Species Selection
• 1.25 Sediment Removal
• 1.26 Harvesting for Nutrient Removal
• 1.27 Plant Succession
• 1.28 Vegetation and Traffic

1.14 Buffers for Pesticides

Pesticides in runoff occur either as sediment-bound or in a dissolved form. Dissolved pesticides are generally the most susceptible to leaving an application area and becoming a pollution problem. Pesticide properties can provide some guidance on the mobility of the pesticide.

Key Design Considerations

• Some pesticides adsorb strongly to soils while others adsorb weakly as noted by the Koc value or soil adsorption index. See table below for recommendations.
• Pesticides with high water solubilities (e.g., > 30 ppm) will generally require wider buffers.
• Pesticides with longer half lives (e.g., greater than 30 days) may require wider buffers.
• Other pesticide best management practices should be used to in addition to buffers (see 5.1 to 5.4).
• See 1.19 for buffer width recommendations.

Pesticide properties can be found on product labels.

DOWNLOAD: 1.14 Guidelines and References (PDF)