• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.7-16
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• 2002

Contamination of groundwater by agrochemicals used in the regional-scale Is now a major environmental problem, and this is especially true for Cheju island where virtually all potable water is from groundwater. The objective of this study was to assess leaching potential of eight pesticides in soils of citrus orchards using groundwater ubiquity score (GUS), retardation factor (RF) and attenuation factor (AF). Considering GUS estimated in 30 citrus orchard soils, metribuzin and metolachlor were classified as leacher, alachlor in volcanic ash soils and linuron in non-volcanic soils were classified as leacher, but chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos were classified as non-leacher. For RF values, metribuzin was classified to be mobile in soils of low organic carbon, metolachlor and alachlor were classified to be moderately immobile in most soils, but linuron, diuron, diniconazole, chlorothalonil and chlorpyrifos were all classified to be very immobile. For AF values, diniconazole, chlorothalonil, and chlorpyrifos were classified to be very unlikely leachable in all of the soils, metribuzin was classified to be likely leachable, and metolahclor, alachlor, linuron and diuron were classified to be leachable only in non-volcanic soils. Although there were some variations in the relative potential of teachability of pesticides estimated with the three different indices, the ranking was essentially determined on the base of the intrinsic properties of the chemicals and environmental properties. Among the eight pesticides, metribuzin, metolachlor, and alachlor, which have high water solubility and low $K_{oc}$ values, have a significant leaching potential especially in non-volcanic ash soils of low organic carbon. But diniconazole, chlorothalonil, and chlorpyrifos, which have low water solubility and high $K_{oc}$ values, were classified to be very immobile in all of the soils. Therefore, to lower the possibility of pesticide contamination of the groundwater in Cheju island, those pesticides which have high water solubility and low $K_{oc}$ values should be used with care in soils of low organic carbon including non-volcanic ash soils.