Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2002CA2B

The effect of Soil Water Content on Organic Chemical Sorption During Transport Through Unsaturated Soil

Institute: California
Year Established: 2002 Start Date: 2002-03-01 End Date: 2003-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $20,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $33,380

Principal Investigators: William Jury, William Frankenberger, Jr.

Project Summary: The investigator on this project is William A. Jury Environmental Sciences, Riverside campus email: wajury@mail.ucr.edu phone: 909-787-5134 This project is one of four to be submitted by the California Center to receive a portion of the allocation. Results of this study will definitively determine whether sorption is important in coarse-textured soils of low water content and organic carbon, and will provide valuable guidance for transport models that are used in management and litigation. Virtually no experimental test of this hypothesis have been carried out in the past. Contamination of ground water by chemicals such as pesticides and solvents is a major worldwide problem and California's agricultural industry uses a significant share of the pesticides applied each year in the US, and has come under a host of regulations designed to improve chemical management and decrease contamination in the future. Estimation of chemical travel time from the surface to groundwater is often a critical factor in determining responsibility for contamination.