Journal
JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY
Volume 479, Issue -, Pages 159-168Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.11.057
Keywords
Road salt; Baseflow; Chloride concentration; Urban karst; Aquifer; Protection
Funding
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- Ontario Research Fund (ORF)
- City of Toronto
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Chloride from road salt enters streams primarily through surface runoff and groundwater discharge. Monitoring of dry-weather flow chloride concentrations in the Highland Creek watershed of the eastern Greater Toronto Area indicates the presence of a previously unrecognised, dual porosity aquifer system whereby preferential flow associated with urban karst exerts a significant influence on baseflow chloride concentrations early in the year. A chloride mass balance undertaken annually over four successive salting seasons suggests that as much as 40% of the chloride applied as road salt enters the shallow aquifer resulting in a net accumulation of chloride and a gradual increase in mean baseflow chloride concentrations. Assuming current road salt application rates are continued, late summer baseflow chloride concentrations will reach around 505 mg/L, almost double present levels. Elevated chloride concentrations can affect the potability of water (the Canadian aesthetic drinking water quality guideline for chloride is 250 mg/L) and can also be toxic to aquatic organisms (CCME aquatic chronic toxicity guideline is 208 mg/L). Meeting these guidelines would require that the release of salt-laden runoff to the subsurface be reduced by over 50%. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available