Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2008MD176B

Summer Fellowship: Investigating the Fate and Persistence of dichloroacetamide herbacide safeners in model environmental systems

Institute: Maryland
Year Established: 2008 Start Date: 2008-03-01 End Date: 2009-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,000

Principal Investigators: Allen Davis

Abstract: The scientific literature is virtually silent regarding the environmental chemistry, occurrence and overall fate of herbicide safeners. These widely used agrochemicals, also known as herbicide antidotes, are used to protect crop plants from the deleterious effects of herbicides. Experiments proposed herein seek to systematically evaluate the persistence and abiotic reactivity of the dichloroacetamide safeners and their degradation products formed in environmentally relevant model aqueous systems. Hypotheses for this work include: Dichloroacetamide safeners may demonstrate appreciable levels of persistence in impacted surface waters and groundwater, elevating concern over human exposure through drinking water. In anaerobic systems (e.g., groundwaters and lake hypolimnia), stepwise dechlorination of dichloroacetamides can result in the accumulation of persistent and toxic degradates. Reactions of dichloroacetamide safeners, structural analogues and transformation products will exhibit quantifiable relationships between chemical structure, reactivity with reduced mineral phases, and environmental persistence.