Performance of a pesticide fate model for predicting multi-year surface runoff contamination in a Mediterranean vineyard.

Characterization of the risk of water contamination by pesticide runoff is an essential issue in the assessment of the environmental impact of pesticide use in agriculture. Models are valuable tools for this purpose. However, the use of pesticide runoff models implies that they can simulate the intra- and interannual variations in runoff contamination with a sufficient accuracy.