{"id":1931,"date":"2013-08-01T18:25:01","date_gmt":"2013-08-01T18:25:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erc.cals.wisc.edu\/volunteer\/?p=1931"},"modified":"2016-01-01T11:23:48","modified_gmt":"2016-01-01T15:23:48","slug":"road-salt-accumulation-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/2013\/08\/01\/road-salt-accumulation-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Road Salt Monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question 1: Does anyone have any information on road salt accumulation, etc.?<\/a><\/p>\n

Question 2: I would love some feedback on starting a road salt monitoring program.<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Question 1<\/h3>\n

From: Tony Williams
\nTo: Volunteer water monitoring
\nSent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:58 PM
\nSubject: [volmonitor] road salt accumulation<\/p>\n

Does anyone have any information on road salt accumulation, road salt runoff to lakes, rivers, estuaries, or other concerns with road salt?
\nOr a link to a web page on this concern.<\/p>\n

Tony Williams
\nWater Monitoring Coordinator
\nThe Coalition for Buzzards Bay
\nNashawena Mills – 620 Belleville Avenue
\nNew Bedford, Massachusetts 02745
\nTel. 508-999-6363 x.203
\nFax. 508-984-7913
\nwww.savebuzzardsbay.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Responses to Question 1<\/h3>\n

(Editor’s note: Not all responses are compiled here; some were lost before being posted…)<\/em><\/p>\n

Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:45:30 -0500
\nFrom: Jeff Schloss
\nSubject: RE: [volmonitor] road salt accumulation<\/p>\n

Tony-
\nNot knowing your specifics I have listed some suggestions for starting below:<\/p>\n

I have a host of circa 1970, 1980 and early 1990 references on road salt impacts that I can fax you if you need. The one seminal paper is by Robert Bubeck et al. (note: Lucky for you Bob was one of my graduate advisors):
\nRunoff of Deicing Salt: Effect on Irondequoit Bay, Rochester, New York (in Reports) Robert C. Bubeck; William H. Diment; Bruce L. Deck; Alton L. Baldwin; Stewart D. LiptonScience, New Series, Vol. 172, No. 3988. (Jun. 11, 1971), pp. 1128-1132.<\/p>\n

This was one of the first to suggest that accumulated salts in bottom waters could prevent mixing of lakes.<\/p>\n

It seems Science had an article on road salt each issue for a while -one of local interest may be:
\nRelease of Mercury from Contaminated Freshwater Sediments by the Runoff of Road Deicing Salt
\nG. Feick; R. A. Horne; D. Yeaple
\nScience Vol. 175, No. 4026 (Mar., 1972), pp. 1142-1143<\/p>\n

Also closer to home for you (in Mass.) I know Normandeau Associates in NH did a “Generic Environmental Impact Report” on road salt accumulation in February 1992 for the Massachusetts Department of Public Works Snow and Ice Control Program. I only have the draft report of this document but I expect you have better connections.<\/p>\n

Also Mark Mattson and others at UMass did a very nice GIS analysis showing water quality impacts to streams nearest to highway networks if you were looking for cause\/effect studies. It is available on the JAWA web site.<\/p>\n

I also know there has been some funded work by USGS Water Resources Research Centers on salt impact to inverts:
\nhttp:\/\/water.usgs.gov\/wrri\/02-03grants_new\/2003MD30B.html<\/a><\/p>\n

In terms of salt alternatives there has been a lot of work up in Alaska on using acetate compounds but they found a pretty high BOD resulted. See Lake and Reservoir Management Vol 5 (2):
\nEffects of Calcium Magnesium Acetate Deicer on Small Ponds in Interior Alaska
\nJacqueline D. LaPerriere and Caryn L. Rea
\npp. 49-57<\/p>\n

I would also follow-up on Elizabeth’ recommendations for even more current references.<\/p>\n

-Jeff<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 12:02:45 -0500
\nFrom: Marie-Fran\u00c3\u00a7oise Walk
\nSubject: Re: [volmonitor] road salt accumulation<\/p>\n

Hi Tony,
\nA late reply in case nobody mentioned this person to you: At the COLAP meeting this past January, Douglas Heath, of USEPA Region 1 in Boston gave this talk and knows a lot about road salt pollution in the region: ROAD SALT IMPACT TO LAKES, STREAMS AND GROUNDWATER from Interstate 93 and Adjacent Roads in Southern New Hampshire —<\/p>\n

Marie-Fran\u00c3\u00a7oise Walk
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Question 2<\/h3>\n

Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:39:09 -0800 (PST)
\nFrom: Kelly Stettner
\nSubject: [volmonitor] Sodium chloride sampling?
\nTo: Volunteer water monitoring<\/p>\n

Good morning. I would like to start a modest program to monitor for road salt at a location where a brook meets the Black River. I would love some feedback if you have any experience with this!
\nCaveats or warnings? Inexpensive equipment? Best practices & procedures? Testing done yourselves or by a lab? Any other advice?
\nMany thanks,
\nKelly Stettner<\/p>\n

Black River Action Team (BRAT)
\n45 Coolidge Road
\nSpringfield, VT 05156
\nhttp:\/\/www.blackriveractionteam.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Responses to Question 2<\/h3>\n

From: Stepenuck, Kris
\nDate: Friday, November 13, 2009, 12:27 PM<\/p>\n

Kelly<\/p>\n

You might be able to use simple conductivity meters such as the Oakton EC Testr.<\/p>\n

Kris<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 12:08 PM, Kelly Stettner wrote:<\/p>\n

Thanks, Kris! I’m right there with you, that a conductivity test would be a great first-stage indicator as to whether further testing is warranted. I’ll check around to see who carries the one you mention ~ have you used that one yourself or know anyone who has? I’d love to know if it has any quirks or particularly helpful features!
\nMuch appreciated,
\nKelly<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From: Stepenuck, Kris
\nDate: Monday, November 16, 2009, 5:00 PM<\/p>\n

Kelly<\/p>\n

Yes, we have used it with some on-farm monitoring, rusty crayfish monitoring and in marshes. I like it, though we haven’t put them to tough tough use. They can be easily calibrated with a solution I was able to buy in small packets, but they come factory calibrated too, which is nice. Batteries do run out esp. if left sitting for a long time.<\/p>\n

Kris<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Update 2015: See here for Wisconsin’s volunteer road salt monitoring program: http:\/\/watermonitoring.uwex.edu\/level3\/UrbanRoadSalt.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question 1: Does anyone have any information on road salt accumulation, etc.? Question 2: I would love some feedback on starting a road salt monitoring program. Question 1 From: Tony Williams To: Volunteer water monitoring Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 1:58 PM Subject: [volmonitor] road salt accumulation Does anyone have any information on road salt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[288977],"tags":[290131,299717,304399,305324],"class_list":["post-1931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-listserv","tag-290131","tag-listserv-2","tag-salt","tag-sodium-chloride"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"kstepenu","author_link":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/author\/kstepenu\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1931"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2149,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1931\/revisions\/2149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uvm.edu\/kstepenu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}