In response to the APVMA regulatory review of diuron, this project was initiated in response for two main purposes. Firstly, to show that that cotton industry has the technology the effectively manage chemical residues in BMP cotton systems and secondly to provide an assessment of the ecological risk from diuron and atrazine in the Namoi and Emerald cotton catchments.

The project used QuickTests, rapid analytical technology, to analyse 456 samples over a four month period. Ten per cent of samples were sent to an analytical laboratory for instrumental analysis. This rapid analytical technology, develop recently through a Cotton CRC project, enables superior environmental management to support the cotton eco-brand. Not only can analysis be undertaken on site, giving immediate feedback for management, a lot more data is made available as the costs are about 10-20% of contemporary instrumental methods. Following the principles of ecological risk assessment this project showed that the concentrations of diuron and atrazine detected in the Namoi and Emerald catchments did not pose ecological concern based on the assessment endpoints adopted for this agricultural region (90% of ecological species protected 90% of the time).

This project provides the framework for rapid analytical technology to be included in catchment management and BMP systems. Until now, the costs of analysis have been prohibitive. The technology and systems are available to support good practice of effective pesticides for the industry against increasing regulatory pressure.