Developing optical methods for catchment management to protect drinking water.

Pesticides provide essential crop protection for food production, but can cause problems if they enter our drinking water. Removal of pesticides during water treatment processes comes at a resource and waste cost. Water companies need to be able to deal with dynamic pesticide concentrations at the treatment works, and to reduce pesticide transport from fields through catchment management. Likewise, farmers want pesticides to stay in fields to protect crops, as pesticide loss in drainage water wastes an expensive resource. The challenge here is to engineer pesticides that are effective with limited mobility and no long-term toxicity.

This exciting project will focus on improving our understanding of pesticide binding to organic matter of different qualities affected by soil types, manure, crop residue etc. This knowledge will be used to evaluate whether optical sensors can provide rapid proxy measurements of pesticide concentrations in surface waters. Work will be supported through a novel collaboration between Syngenta' (global crop protection company) and Affinity Water (water supply company). The student will work with Affinity Water's current programme of pesticide monitoring within the Loddon Catchment and the Syngenta product safety group. This research will be part of a £4m EPSRC consortium grant, TWENTY65, dedicated to solving the grand challenge or clean water for all.