Modelling of a constructed wetland for pesticide mitigation

The Water Framework Directive and the Ecophyto 2018 plan provides for measures against water chemical pollution. In the agricultural context, pesticide are a real stress for surrounding environment. Measures have been taken to reduce this stress, namely the reduction of chemical application, and the implantation of buffer zones like artificial wetland at the outlet of the agricultural watershed. A PhD thesis has begun in November 2012 on the modelling of the wetland functioning for pesticide mitigation. This work takes place in the team TAPAHS in the unit Hydrosystem and Bioprocesses of the Institute Irstea. The motivation of this work takes birth in the preceding studies of the team on the removal efficiency of a wetland regarding several pesticides. Several tools are yet available to reach our objectives. An experimental site has been instrumented in the city of Rampillon (France) and a state of art is under construction. The bibliography’s study focus on two subjects: the tracer experiments and the constructed wetlands models which have been developed. These tools lead to a methodology which we propose to follow for the next steps of the PhD thesis.