Ground Water

The FOCUS groundwater scenarios became available around 1 January 2001. They are used to assess the potential movement of active substances and metabolites of plant protection products to groundwater. They form a part of the review process for active substances in the EU in the context of Directive 91/414/EEC.

     Overview 

Overview of FOCUS Groundwater

The FOCUS groundwater scenarios are a set of nine standard combinations of weather, soil and cropping data which collectively represent agriculture in the EU for the purposes of a Tier 1 EU-level assessment of leaching potential. The scenarios and their derivation are described in detail in a published report. The scenarios have been implemented as sets of input files for four simulation models - MACRO, PEARL, PELMO & PRZM. These input files and the simulation models which are needed to run them, form an important part of the leaching assessment process.

Therefore processes for maintenance of and support to models and FOCUS model software have been set up which are accessible via this website, including:

  • Distribution. The input files and simulation models can all be downloaded from this site.
  • Version control. This website is the definitive source of the currently approved version of the scenarios and associated models and input files. It also includes information on differences between successive versions.
  • Documentation.
  • User support. This includes an email helpdesk for registered users, and email notification of any bugs, and new versions..
 Documentation Documentation in FOCUS Ground Water
  • Assessing Potential for Movements of Active Substances and their Metabolites to Ground Waters in the EU " - Report of the FOCUS Ground Water Work Group, Version 3 of 10 October 2014. EC Document Reference Sanco/13144/2010 version 3, 613pp. This report supplements the Sanco/321/2000 rev.2, 202pp report but replaces Sanco/13144/2010 version 1, 604pp (that should not be used for any applications submitted after 1 May 2015)
  • "FOCUS groundwater scenarios in the EU review of active substances" - The report of the work of the Groundwater Scenarios Workgroup of FOCUS (FOrum for the Co-ordination of pesticide fate models and their USe), Version 1 of November 2000. EC Document Reference Sanco/321/2000 rev.2, 202pp.
    • Main text (PDF)
    • Appenices A to D (PDF) - specification of the FOCUS scenarios and parameterisation of MACRO, PELMO and PRZM
    • Appendix E (PDF) - parameterisation of PEARL 

  • Generic Guidance for Tier 1 FOCUS Ground Water Assessments (version 2.4): document based on the reports of the FOCUS Groundwater Scenarios workgroup (finalised in 2000), the FOCUS Ground Water Work Group (as noted in 2014), the FOCUS Work Group on Degradation Kinetics (finalised in 2009) as modified by EFSA DegT50 guidance (as noted in 2014), guidance on aged adsorption (endorsed in 2021) and further clarifications on best practice when degradation and adsorption are correlated with soil properties in particular pH in line with EFSA 2020 guidance, as well as specifying the need to use EFSA 2022 guidance regarding assessing soil phototransformation products (endorsed in 2023). This version 2.4 should be used for applications submitted after 1 January 2024. This document does not replace the official FOCUS SANCO or EFSA reports. However, a need was identified to maintain the definition of the FOCUS ground water scenarios and the guidance for their use in an up-to-date version controlled document, as changes become necessary. That is the purpose of this document. The way the latest version 2.4 differs from the previous versions (version 2.3) (version 2.2) (version 2.1) and 2.0 here is described at the beginning of document 2.4. Some earlier versions of this document were entitled Generic Guidance for FOCUS Groundwater Scenarios.

  • Historical document: Assessing Potential for Movements of Active Substances and their Metabolites to Ground Waters in the EU " - Report of the FOCUS Ground Water Work Group, Version 1 of 13 June 2009. EC Document Reference Sanco/13144/2010 version 1, 604pp. This report supplements the Sanco/321/2000 rev.2, 202pp report
  • Documentation of changes that were made in the software packages since the report Sanco/13144/2010 version 1 was finalised, that includes a complete comparison of the results of the April 2011 official release software packages with the results of earlier software packages that were used to generate the results contained in the Sanco/13144/2010 version 1 report.
  • Historical document: Generic Guidance for FOCUS Groundwater Scenarios (version 1.1) : document based official guidance document by FOCUS Groundwater in the context of 91/414/EEC [full citation is FOCUS (2000) “FOCUS groundwater scenarios in the EU review of active substances” Report of the FOCUS Groundwater Scenarios Workgroup, EC Document Reference SANCO/321/2000 rev.2, 202pp]. This document does not replace the official FOCUS report. However, a need was identified to maintain the definition of the FOCUS groundwater scenarios and the guidance for their use in an up-to-date version controlled document, as changes become necessary. That is the purpose of this document. The latest version 1.1 differs from the previous version 1.0 in that several values in the crop interception table (Table 1.6) have been changed and some footnotes to this table have been added. As a result, the page numbering in the report and Table of Contents was changed.

 

 

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