Miss Rebecca Harrison

Geography (PhD)

Understanding Pesticide Dynamics at the Catchment Scale for Managing Drinking Water Reservoirs

Research summary

Transport of pesticides in runoff and subsurface flow during rainfall

>> events poses a significant concern for water quality with adverse effects

>> on drinking water and aquatic life which may lead to serious and

>> long-lasting ecotoxicological effects. My study investigates spatial

>> patterns of pesticide transport in a lowland agricultural catchment

>> (17km2) in Somerset upstream of a drinking-water reservoir. Soil,

>> sediment and water samples from slopes, rivers and the reservoir are

>> analysed for a number of major pesticides to determine the relative

>> importance of dissolved, sediment-bound and soil bound pesticide dynamics

>> seasonally and during individual storm events.

Transport of pesticides in runoff ...