Behavior and fate of fungicide chlorothalonil in urban landscape soils and associated environmental concern

This novel study investigated the behavior and fate of chlorothalonil in terms of kinetics, sorption‒desorption and leaching potential in urban landscape soils using batch experiments. The pseudo-second-order model well described the sorption kinetics of chlorothalonil in urban soils. Consequently, chlorothalonil was partitioned into heterogeneous surfaces of soil following the Freundlich isotherm model. According to PCA, soil organic matter (OM), silt, clay, and oxides of Al and Fe exhibited a significant positive correlation (P < 0.05) with chlorothalonil K_d (P < 0.05), while sand content and soil pH showed a negative correlation at P < 0.05. In soils, decreased sorption of chlorothalonil was also due to the presence of undecomposed or partly decomposed OM, whereas increased sorption could be attributed to the combined effect of OM with C = O and C-H groups, silt, clay, Al and Fe oxides and hydrophobicity of the fungicide. Also, HI, GUS, LIX and K_d of four among nine urban soils indicated that chlorothalonil has a great potential for leaching into the groundwater from the soil surface, posing an unintended threat to non-target biota and food safety. Therefore, utmost care must be taken while applying chlorothalonil in urban landscapes, particularly on impervious surfaces, to minimize the impact on the ecosystem.

Ranking Coal Ash Materials for Their Potential to Leach Arsenic and Selenium: Relative Importance of Ash Chemistry and Site Biogeochemistry

The chemical composition of coal ash is highly heterogeneous and dependent on the origin of the source coal, combustion parameters, and type and configuration of air pollution control devices. This heterogeneity results in uncertainty in the evaluation of leaching potential of contaminants from coal ash. The goal of this work was to identify whether a single leaching protocol could roughly group high-leaching potential coal ash from low-leaching potential coal ash, with respect to arsenic (As) and selenium (Se). We used four different leaching tests, including the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Protocol (TCLP), natural pH, aerobic sediment microcosms, and anaerobic sediment microcosms on 10 different coal ash materials, including fly ash, lime-treated ash, and flue gas desulfurization materials. Leaching tests showed promise in categorizing high and low-leaching potential ash materials, indicating that a single point test could act as a first screening measure to identify high-risk ash materials. However, the amount of contaminant leached varied widely across tests, reflecting the importance of ambient conditions (pH, redox state) on leaching. These results demonstrate that on-site geochemical conditions play a critical role in As and Se mobilization from coal ash, underscoring the need to develop a situation-based risk assessment framework for contamination by coal ash pollutants.

Sorption, desorption and leaching potential of sulfonylurea herbicides in Argentinean soils

The sulfonylurea (SUs) herbicides are used to control broadleaf weeds and some grasses in a variety of crops. They have become popular because of their low application rates, low mammalian toxicity and an outstanding herbicidal activity. Sorption is a major process influencing the fate of pesticides in soil. The objective of this study was to characterize sorption-desorption of four sulfonylurea herbicides: metsulfuron-methyl (methyl 2-[(4-methoxy-6-methyl-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl)carbamoylsulfamoyl)]benzoate), sulfometuron-methyl (methyl 2-[(4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-2-yl)carbamoylsulfamoyl]benzoate), rimsulfuron (1-(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)-3-(3-ethylsulfonyl-2-pyridylsulfonyl)urea) and nicosulfuron (2-[(4,6-dimethoxypyrimidin-2-yl)carbamoylsulfamoyl]-N,N-dimethylnicotinamide) from different soil horizons of different landscape positions. Sorption was studied in the laboratory by batch equilibration method. Sorption coefficients (K(d-SE)) showed that rimsulfuron (K(d-SE) = 1.18 to 2.08 L kg(-1)) and nicosulfuron (K(d-SE) = 0.02 to 0.47 L kg(-1)) were more highly sorbed than metsulfuron-methyl (K(d-SE) = 0.00 to 0.05 L kg(-1)) and sulfometuron-methyl (K(d-SE) = 0.00 to 0.05 L kg(-1)). Sorption coefficients (K(d-SE)) were correlated with pH and organic carbon content. All four herbicides exhibited desorption hysteresis where the desorption coefficients (K(d-D)) > K(d-SE). To estimate the leaching potential, K(oc) and ground-water ubiquity score (GUS) were used to calculate the half-life (t1/2) required to be classified as "leacher" or "nonleacher". According to the results, rimsulfuron and nicosulfuron herbicides would be classified as leachers, but factors such as landscape position, soil depth and the rate of decomposition in surface and subsurface soils could change the classification. In contrast, these factors do not affect classification of sulfometuron-methyl and metsulfuron-methyl; they would rank as leachers.