Background, aim and scope: Many surface coatings, including roof paints, contain biocides. It is generally not known to what extent roof paint biocides leach from the paint, and consequently, what concentration the biocide may attain in a rainwater collection system. To this end the leaching of specific biocides from a variety of German roof paints was investigated and the resulting concentrations in collected rain water were estimated.
Materials and methods: A laboratory simulation was used to determine the time dependant leaching rate of the biocide from the paint into synthetic rainwater. The concentrations of biocide in the leachate were quantified using HPLC. The course of the leachate concentrations over time was fitted using a simple mathematical model. This was then used to estimate concentrations of biocides in a typical household rainwater collection system over time.
Results: Surprisingly, the biocides found in the paints did not always concur with the declared biocides. Concerning the modelling of runoff concentrations, it was found that--under the model assumptions--the rain intensity and cumulative raining time after application are the dominant factors influencing the concentration of the biocide. At the highest modelled rain intensity of 40 mm/hour it only takes about 2 hours to reach peak concentrations lower than 0.1 mg/L, at 0.3 mm/hour it takes about 10 hours to reach peak concentrations of 1.3, 0.9, 5.2 and 1.1 mg/L for terbutryn from Emalux paint, terbutryn from Südwest paint, carbendazim from Emalux paint, and carbendazim from MIPA paint, respectively.
Discussion: The results confirm that biocides leached from roof paint will be present in roof runoff. The highest estimated peak concentrations are close to the water solubility of the respective biocides. This indicates that the model assumption of a concentration independent leaching rate will tendentially lead to an overestimation of the leached concentrations under these circumstances. However, under most circumstances such as higher rain intensities, and longer time after peak concentrations have been reached, the runoff concentrations are far from the solubility limit, and therefore it is proposed that the model assumptions are tenable.
Conclusions: The leaching of biocides from roof paints can be roughly assessed using a relatively simple approach. The declaration of biocidal ingredients in roof paints should be improved and information on their biocide leaching behaviour should be made available. Furthermore, the estimations should be evaluated by a field study.
Recommendations and perspectives: The leaching study indicated that the concentrations of selected biocides can reach significant levels, especially after low intensity rainfall. Taking into account the inherent biological activity of the substances under scrutiny, it can already be concluded that it is not advisable to use runoff water from roofs freshly painted with biocide containing roof paints. These results have been complemented by a literature search of biological effects of the investigated biocides, ecotoxicological tests with several species and a risk analysis for organisms exposed to runoff water. This will be presented in Part 2 of this contribution.