Geology Department Postgraduate Web Pages

Name: Sarah-Louise McManus

Contact Details

Tel: +353 (0)53 9171275
Fax: +353 (0)53 9142213
Email: smcmanu@tcd.ie  sarah.mcmanus@teagasc.ie

Title of Project

Case studies of pesticide leaching to groundwater from diffuse agricultural sources in Ireland.

Project details

This project is investigating pesticide occurrence in a range of contrasting hydrogeological settings predominantly under tillage but with one grassland site on a karst aquifer.  Six sites have been chosen with different soil, subsoils and bedrock geology and aquifer type using ArcGIS 9.3.  Depth of soil and subsoil (overburden), and unsaturated zone thickness have been taken into consideration using archived records from the Geological Survey of Ireland.  Water samples are collected on a monthly basis from multi-level piezometers installed in transects across each site.  Springs, streams and drainage ditches are also sampled to gain an insight into pesticide movements after application.  Groundwater samples are analysed in Teagasc, Johnstown Castle using derivitization techniques and quantified on GC/ECD and GC/MS.  The research is funded by the Department of Agriculture & Food Research Fund programme.  The project forms part of a larger interdisciplinary project on assessment of the vulnerability of groundwater to pesticide inputs from Irish agriculture.

Name of supervisor

Dr. Catherine Coxon

External supervisor

Dr Karl Richards

Postgraduate personal details

My undergraduate degree was in Biology & Geography at John Moores University Liverpool.  During this time I developed a keen interest in soil science and decided to expand my knowledge by pursuing an M.Sc. in Soils and Environmental Pollution at the University of Reading.  After completing the M.Sc. I started this Ph.D. at Trinity in October 2008.  

Project Start Date

Publications

McManus, S-L., Richards, K.G & Coxon, C.E (2009) Investigating pesticide occurrence in groundwater in Ireland.  Ireland’s rural Environment: Research Highlights from Johnstown Castle, August 2009, Teagasc, Wexford.

McManus, S-L., Coxon, C.E & Richards, K.G (2009) Pesticide loss to groundwater in Ireland.  Environ ’09, 9th – 11th February, Waterford Institute of Technology, Book of abstracts, C14.

McManus, S-L., Richards, K.G & Coxon, C.E (2009) Pesticide occurrence in Irish groundwaters.  GSI groundwater newsletter, December 2009.

McManus, S-L., Coxon, C.E & Richards, K.G (2009) Case studies of Pesticide loss to groundwater in Ireland.  York Pesticides ’09, 14th – 16th September, Food and Environment Research Agency, book of abstracts, A33.

Fieldwork photos

Giddings rig installing piezometers at site in Ballycanew, Co. Wexford (October, 2009).

View of Castledockrell site, Co. Wexford (April 2009).

Purging water from recently installed wells to ensure water sample representative of aquifer (November 2009).

Air rotary drilling and flushing of an artesian borehole at Ballycanew.  Flow rate was c.150 L/min with a minimum piezometric surface 6m above ground (October 2009).