Abstract
Studies have shown that salt concentrations are increasing in waterbodies such as lakes, rivers, wetlands, and streams in areas where deicers are commonly applied for winter road maintenance, resulting in degraded water quality. As the salt concentration varies spatially and temporally based on environmental and hydrological characteristics, we monitored high resolution (15 min) salt concentrations for a relatively long period (winter and spring season) at different sites (i.e., stream, urban-stream, roadside drain, and parking-lot drain) using multiple electric conductivity-based sensors. The salt concentrations were significantly different from each other considering individual sensors and different sites in both winter and spring seasons, which support past research results that concentration varies spatially. Parking-lot (1136 ± 674 ppm) and Roadside (701 ± 263 ppm) drain measured significantly higher concentration than for Stream (260 ± 60 ppm) and Urban-stream (562 ± 266 ppm) in the winter season. Similar trends were observed for the spring season, however, the mean concentrations were lower in the spring. Furthermore, salt concentrations were significantly higher during the winter (242 ± 47 ppm to 1695 ± 629 ppm) than for the spring (140 ± 23 ppm to 863 ± 440 ppm) season considering different sites, which have been attributed to the winter snow maintenance practice using deicers in past studies. All sites exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) threshold (salt concentration higher than 230 mg/L) for chronic exposure level for 59% to 94% and 10% to 83% of days in winter and spring seasons, respectively. The study has highlighted the usefulness and advantages of high resolution (spatially and temporally) salt concentration measurement using sensor technology. Furthermore, the salt concentration in waterbodies can vary spatially and temporally within a small spatial scale, which may be important information for managing water quality locally. The high resolution measurements (i.e., 15 min) were helpful to capture the highest potential salt concentrations in the waterbody. Therefore, the sensor technology can help to measure high resolution salt concentrations, which can be used to quantify impacts of high salt concentrations, e.g., application of deicer for winter road maintenance on aquatic systems based on the criteria developed by USEPA.
Highlights
IntroductionSalts are widely used as a deicers for winter road maintenance in the US and around the world, which help to move vehicles during snow/ice events
We presumed that the peak concentration was measured during the time of snowfall events when deicers were applied for winter road maintenance (Figure 2)
The highest salt concentrations were found in drains directly below the parking lot in the winter (1695 ± 629 ppm), whereas the lowest (281 ± 65 ppm) concentrations were at perennial streams with relatively larger watersheds (Cahokia Creek) where flows are comparatively higher than other ephemeral drains
Summary
Salts are widely used as a deicers for winter road maintenance in the US and around the world, which help to move vehicles during snow/ice events. Most of the salt applied for winter maintenance (over roads or parking lots) is later dissolved in the snow/rain melt runoff and infiltrates to contaminate surface and ground waters [1,2]. Several other sources contribute salt in waterbodies such as agricultural fertilizer, wastewater discharge, and industrial discharges, deicers, and natural salt sources, etc. The application of road salts has been increased with urbanization [5]. As the application of road deicers is increasing, there is evidence of increased chloride concentration in soil
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