Research into chloride in Boston water systems with Journalism Class and myRWA
Semi-Fictional Challenge to the JR368 Data Visualization Class at Emerson College, Spring 2015
Is there too much salt in the streams and rivers around Boston? Is it impairing aquatic life? The municipal government says it's fine. Residents say there's so much road salt that it's killing their lawn and impairing stream life. Community groups are advocating for testing. What's your strategy to find out the story? You find myRWA online and contact Patrick Herron. Turns out there is a community already engaged in water quality monitoring and they have looked at various measuring options and found a coqui sensor that is low cost, fairly easy and engages people around the data collection effort. You, as the journalist, jump on board that effort in order to tell the story of what's going. The device hasn't been used before to monitor water quality.
Here is some research you have found regarding the threats chloride poses to freshwater systems: MA Appendix H pp. 9-11 about chloride regulations, River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds, Increased salinization of water in the Northeastern US
How do you begin to research this scenario? List your group members & write-up your preliminary research below in at least 500 words.
Group 1: Don, Catherine, Patrick
- Look for road salt data in the Boston area
- Find community groups that care about water quality
- Where does drinking water come from in MA?
- Where are some stockpiles of salt in Greater Boston?
Group #?: Jess, Matt, Connor
Who would we interview? -Companies that mine, sell salt -MassDOT officials who determine “salt-free zones” and where salt is distributed -Boston Public Works officials -Boston Water and Sewer Commission officials (Henry F. Vitale…) -Water quality officials -Watershed associations -Residents who live in proximity to salt storage areas -Scientists from local higher education entities that specialize in Environmental and Ecosystem Studies -As a side note: an expert on carbon emissions that could comment on the sheer amount of CO2 that is being released into our atmosphere just to salt the roads
Summary: This boston.com article turned out to be a gold mine of information in regards to where road salt comes from, where it is stored, how it is distributed and how the overuse of salt can lead to significant environmental issues.
The piece also linked to several journals/reports that were completed/sponsored by government agencies from the U.S. and Canada that showed how massive amounts of salt that is absorbed into snowmelt can affect river (or pretty much any waterway) ecosystems.
Last year, “the Massachusetts Department of Transportation used over 585k tons of road salt, along with 27k tons of sand and 1.57M gallons of liquid de-icers to battle slippery highway conditions,” according to boston.com.
Salt was imported from many countries, but was brought in from Cargill, Granite State Minerals and Morton Salt. Those companies submit bids to MassDOT to determine who will provide the incredible amount of salt that is needed.
Based on this article and the sources it identifies, the business of salting our roadways, and even shipping and storing the salt locally, is wrapped up in a corporate atmosphere and treated like any other typical business deal. Notably, this isn’t necessarily a “bad” thing, but it just shows how the business of keeping our roadways safe can turn into an auction.
According to Michael Dennehy, interim commissioner of Boston Public Works, told boston.com that there is approximately 80 thousand tons of snow stored in 8 different locations across Boston that are at the ready and constantly replenished.
Besides the main storage area in Chelsea, where are the the other many caches of salt stored?
Earlier in our summary, we referenced the government reports that were presented in the article. Here they are with the pertinent information copied and pasted below the link:
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2307&from#.VOKf_1PF-m1 Levels of chloride, a component of salt, are elevated in many urban streams and groundwater across the northern U.S., according to a new government study. Chloride levels above the recommended federal criteria set to protect aquatic life were found in more than 40 percent of urban streams tested. The study was released today by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Elevated chloride can inhibit plant growth, impair reproduction, and reduce the diversity of organisms in streams. The effect of chloride on drinking-water wells was lower. Scientists found chloride levels greater than federal standards set for human consumption in fewer than 2 percent of drinking-water wells sampled in the USGS study. “Safe transportation is a top priority of state and local officials when they use road salt. And clearly salt is an effective deicer that prevents accidents, saves lives, and reduces property losses,” said Matthew C. Larsen, USGS Associate Director for Water. “These findings are not surprising, but rather remind us of the unintended consequences that salt use for deicing may have on our waters. Transportation officials continue to implement innovative alternatives that reduce salt use without compromising safety.” This comprehensive study examines chloride concentrations in the northern U.S. covering parts of 19 States, including 1,329 wells and 100 streams.
http://www.ec.gc.ca/toxiques-toxics/Default.asp?lang=En&n=D83D0535-1 Road Salts are used in Canada as de-icing and anti-icing chemicals for winter road maintenance, with some use as summer dust suppressants. A comprehensive five-year scientific assessment by Environment Canada determined that in sufficient concentrations, road salts pose a risk to plants, animals and the aquatic environment (Assessment Report - Road Salts). A Risk Management Strategy for Road Salts was subsequently developed to outline the measures that Environment Canada proposes in order to manage the risks associated with road salts. Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, the Government of Canada published a Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts on April 3, 2004. The Code is designed to help municipalities and other road authorities better manage their use of road salts in a way that reduces their impacts on the environment while maintaining road safety.