Leaching Runoff Fraction for Nitrate and Herbicides on Sugarcane Fields: Implications for Grey Water Footprint

Fabio Vale Scarpare (), Luciana do Carmo Zotelli, Robson Barizon, Sergio Gustavo Quassi de Castro and Andre Herman Freire Bezerra
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Fabio Vale Scarpare: Biological Systems Engineering Department, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6120, USA
Luciana do Carmo Zotelli: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Cidade Universitária “Zeferino Vaz”, Campinas 13083-860, SP, Brazil
Robson Barizon: Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) Meio Ambiente, Jaguariúna 13820-000, SP, Brazil
Sergio Gustavo Quassi de Castro: Laboratório Nacional de Biorrenováveis, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais, Campinas 13083-970, SP, Brazil
Andre Herman Freire Bezerra: Instituto Metrópole Digital, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Campus Universitário Lagoa Nova, Natal 59078-970, RN, Brazil

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Sugarcane cultivation uses many chemical inputs to ensure good yields, which puts local water resources under pressure. Grey water footprint (GWF) is a widely used indicator of the volume needed to assimilate a pollutant load in a water body. However, the GWF relies on leaching runoff fractions, which are empirically determined. We hypothesize that these fractions might not represent the true magnitude of the Brazilian sugarcane environment and that management practices can further reduce this fraction loaded into the environment. In two field trials, we measure the herbicides and nitrate loaded into the environment through in situ measurements, determine their loss fractions, compare them with some empirical models, calculate the GWF, and estimate the potential for nitrate pollution attenuation with the adoption of split and incorporated nitrogen application. Both hypotheses are confirmed. For nitrate, our results suggest that the leaching runoff fraction used in most GWF studies is overestimated by about two times, impacting the GWF estimation for the Brazilian sugarcane environment. However, the same conclusion was not possible for herbicides due to the low diversity of the analyzed molecules. In addition, the fertilizer management application reduced the nitrate load on the environment, which the GWF did not necessarily detect.

Keywords: water quality; water balance; nitrogen; nitrate; environment; pollution; diuron and hexazinone; grey water footprint; herbicides (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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