Potential Efficiency of Riparian Vegetated Buffer Strips in Intercepting Soluble Compounds in the Presence of Subsurface Preferential Flows.

Buffer strips have been widely recognized as to promote infiltration, deposition and sorption of contaminants for protecting surface water against agricultural contamination. However, such strips do not intercept all contaminants, particularly soluble ones. Although preferential flow (PF) has been suggested as one factor among several decreasing the efficiency of buffer strips, the mechanisms involved are not well understood.