SIRIS-Pesticides : validation of a tool to aid decision making for monitoring pesticides in water

Abstract : SIRIS-Pesticides is a tool used to classify phytosanitary active substances according to their potential to reach surface and underground waters. It is also a tool to aid decision making for managers wishing to draw up a list of substances to be monitored in priority for evaluating the quality of water at a water capture point or in an environment. This tool is also used to target pesticides to be analysed in the water and limit the cost of monitoring. The only input data needed for using this tool are the area of the territory concerned and the quantities of substances spread within this area. The other information required for calculation is provided in two databases linked to the tool. SIRIS-Pesticides classifies the substances to test for in water over a standardized scale of 0 to 100. Active substances with the highest rank are those with the greatest potential for reaching the water. Compared with field measurement reports, SIRISPesticides results were found to be robust by the members of the project steering committee