Project Number:
DNR-062
Other Project Number:
WR88R009
Funding Year:
1988
Contract Period:
Funding Source:
DNR, DATCP
Investigator(s) and affiliations:
R. Wietersen, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Abstract:
Introduction: The initiative for this project arose when groundwater monitoring, adjacent to agricultural fields in the Central Sands and Lower Wisconsin River Valley (LWRV) areas of Wisconsin, showed conflicting detections of herbicides, despite similar cropping practices and what were believed to be similar soil types (Postle, 1988). Results from the monitoring program have found a much greater frequency of detects and higher concentrations of atrazine and alachlor in the LWRV compared to the Central Sands. The primary objective of this project was to compare the movement of two common herbicides (atrazine and alachlor) through exploratory soil columns representing each of these regions. A secondary objective was to examine the influence of an experimental polymer additive on herbicide movement.
Results from this study have been used to formulate a detailed research plan to study the uniqueness of herbicide movement at a field site in the LWRV.