Diffuse pollution example

1 The load to water is a fraction of the amount of application. Therefore the load can be calculated as alpha times the application rate, where alpha represents the so-calculated leaching-runoff fraction. Alpha represents the fraction of applied chemicals reaching freshwater bodies, through either leaching or surface runoff. 2 Also here, the equation can be simplified by crossing off the runoff. The grey water footprint is thus equal to the chemical load divided by the difference between the maximum and natural concentration in the receiving body.