Estimating the development of ecotoxicological pressure on water systems from pesticides in Finland 2000–2011

Chemical pollution is, globally, a serious problem that can be induced e.g. by pesticide usage. Reduction of health and environmental risks of pesticides is a goal in the implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) via the EU agricultural strategy. In this study, potential environmental impacts of agricultural plant protection products (PPP) were studied, in Finland, using freshwater ecotoxicity impact, in the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) approach, as an indicator. Potential impacts of these chemicals were studied between 2000 and 2011, and substance sale data (active ingredient kg/year) was surveyed by the Finnish Chemical and Safety Agency. The most sold agricultural PPPs in Finland are herbicides. Total sales amounted to 1707.5 tonnes in 2011, which means 0.7 kg/ha, if counted for the total agricultural land of the country. PPP emissions from field application to the different environmental compartments were modelled on the average Finnish agriculture circumstances with PestLCI. The emissions were converted into impacts using the life cycle inventory assessment (LCIA), using characterisation factors from USEtox™. The model was customised to fit Finnish regional environmental conditions by obtaining the relevant parameters from GIS. According to the results, ecotoxic pressure decreased over the period, mainly because of the decreased sales of the main hazardous substance fluazinam. Single very hazardous substances had a strong contribution tothe total impact. No correlation between the sales amount and ecotoxic pressure was found, thus PPP risks cannot be indicated based only on their sale amount. The main contributors to the total potential ecotoxic impact were fungicides, and the most hazardous substances were fluazinam (used on potato), aclonifen (used mostly on peas, carrot and onion), methiocarb (strawberries), pendimethalin (carrot, onion), and prochloraz (cereals, oil seeds). In conclusion, the first priority in the usage of this LCA approach is to identify environmental impacts of single hazardous PPPs and according to that to develop environmental management of plant protection and, if needed, build up restrictions which are specifically directed to causes of impacts.