Numerical Modeling of Water Flow and Contaminant (Nitrates) Transport in Agriculture: Review

Water movement in soils is a key process that aff ects water quantity and quality in the environment. Movement of contaminants in soils is closely linked with the soil water fl ux and it is very important to properly evaluate these processes that occur in vadose zone. With development of new technologies more attention is dedicated to the use of numerical models to assess water fl ow behavior and groundwater pollution caused by agricultural production. Th is paper presents a review of many articles that are focused on vadose zone modeling and on the application of these models in agricultural/environmental sciences. With increasing development of computer technologies there is also increasing amount of programs that solve water fl ow and solute transport. Water fl ow is solved with Richard’s equation, and for space discretization Galerkin fi nite element method is mostly used. Th e equation used in solute transport dominantly depends on solute whose transport is simulated. Modeling for sure represents the future of environmental protection and can be used for better understanding of vadose zone processes.