Scientific report of EFSA on the ‘repair action’ of the FOCUS surface water scenarios

Abstract

Abstract The European Commission asked EFSA to undertake a ‘repair action’ of the FOCUS surface water report after the EFSA Pesticide Steering Network had been consulted. The main request was to introduce into all FOCUS surface water scenarios (both run‐off and drainage) a 20‐year assessment period instead of the current 12‐ or 16‐month assessment period. Because of the 20‐year assessment period, the way application dates are defined needed to be reviewed, reconsidering the functionality of the pesticide application timing currently used. Guidance on how substance parameters should be handled when correlated with soil properties has been provided. Foliar wash‐off calculated in MACRO and Pesticide Root Zone Model was aligned and the appropriateness of including rotational crop aspects was discussed. Processing time and how to use the results of the exposure assessment were considered.

Keywords

• environmental
• exposure
• models
• pesticides
• surface water