Abstract
Manual and high-frequency measurements (n = 535) of chloride (Cl−) along a low-order stream in an urban–agricultural watershed (8% urban, 87% agriculture) were conducted to investigate the importance of stormflow to Cl− transport. Sampling was conducted from February 2018 to February 2019; manual sampling occurred weekly, while stormflows were sampled at high frequency. Total Cl− export was nearly 780,000 kg, of which 42.1% occurred during winter. Stormflows, which represented 19% of the period, contributed 57.6% of the total Cl− load. The importance of stormflows varied seasonally; winter and spring storms exported nearly half of total Cl−, 29.1% and 18.2% respectively, while summer (8.2%) and fall storm (2.1%) events account for only ~ 10% of total export. A substantial portion of Cl− export, 43.4%, also occurred during baseflow, likely from accumulation of Cl− related to road salt and KCl fertilizer in groundwater. The results identified two periods of elevated Cl− concentrations: (1) flushing of road salt from impervious surfaces during and immediately following the cold season and (2) transport of salt accumulated from the dry season. Elevated discharges associated with summer and fall stormflows when road salt was not present did not generate similar Cl− loads, despite peak discharge values larger than those measured in the winter and spring. The lack of deicing application and a shift to stored Cl− during the summer stormflows created a discharge–load relationship that reached an asymptote where further increases in discharge do not correspond with increased Cl− load.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Availability of data and materials
The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Faculty Publications– Geography, Geology, and the Environment at https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpgeo/1/.
Code availability
Not applicable.
Abbreviations
- ELW:
-
Evergreen Lake watershed
- PoTCL:
-
Percent of total cumulative load
- PoSCL:
-
Percent of total storm cumulative load
- PoSEV:
-
Percent of total storm-event volume
- PoTV:
-
Percent of total volume
- SMC:
-
Six Mile Creek
- TCL:
-
Total cumulative load
- TEV:
-
Total event volume
- SCL:
-
Total storm cumulative load
- TV:
-
Total volume
References
Bäckström M, Nilsson U, Håkansson K, Allard B, Karlsson S (2003) Speciation of heavy metals in road runoff and roadside total deposition. Water Air Soil Pollut 147:343–366. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024545916834
Cañedo-Argüelles M, Kefford BJ, Piscart C, Prat N, Schäfer RB, Schulz C-J (2013) Salinisation of rivers: an urgent ecological issue. Environ Pollut 173:157–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.10.011
Cañedo-Argüelles M, Sala M, Peixoto G, Prat N, Faria M, Soares AMVM, Barata C, Kefford B (2016) Can salinity trigger cascade effects on streams? A mesocosm approach. Sci Total Environ 540:3–10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.03.039
Casey RE, Lev SM, Snodgrass JW (2013) Stormwater ponds as a source of long-term surface and ground water salinisation. Urban Water J 10:145–153. https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2012.716070
Chabela LP, Peterson EW (2019) Relationship between peak stage, storm duration, and bank storage along a meandering stream. Water 11:16. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11081688
Church PE, Friesz PJ (1993) Effectiveness of highway drainage systems in preventing road-salt contamination of groundwater: preliminary findings. Transport Res Record 56–64.
Coldsnow KD, Relyea RA, Hurley JM (2017) Evolution to environmental contamination ablates the circadian clock of an aquatic sentinel species. Ecol Evol 7:10339–10349. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3490
Corsi SR, De Cicco LA, Lutz MA, Hirsch RM (2015) River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds: increasing concentrations outpace urban growth rate and are common among all seasons. Sci Total Environ 508:488–497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.12.012
Drewry JJ, Newham LTH, Croke BFW (2009) Suspended sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations and exports during storm-events to the Tuross estuary, Australia. J Environ Manage 90:879–887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.02.004
Dugan HA, Bartlett SL, Burke SM, Doubek JP, Krivak-Tetley FE, Skaff NK, Summers JC, Farrell KJ, McCullough IM, Morales-Williams AM, Roberts DC, Ouyang Z, Scordo F, Hanson PC, Weathers KC (2017) Salting our freshwater lakes. Proc Natl Acad Sci. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620211114
Environment Canada (2001) Priority substances list assessment report: Road Salts. In: Health Canada (ed). Minister of Public Works and Government Services. p 171
Evergreen Lake Watershed Planning Committee (2006) Evergreen Lake Watershed Plan. City of Bloomington, Bloomington, IL. p 79
Foos A (2003) Spatial distribution of road salt contamination of natural springs and seeps, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA. Environ Geol 44:14–19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-002-0724-7
Fraley LM, Miller AJ, Welty C (2009) Contribution of in-channel processes to sediment yield of an urbanizing watershed1. JAWRA J Am Water Resour Assoc 45:748–766. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2009.00320.x
Gao P, Josefson M (2012) Temporal variations of suspended sediment transport in Oneida Creek watershed, central New York. J Hydrol 426–427:17–27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.01.012
Gentry LE, David MB, Royer TV, Mitchell CA, Starks KM (2007) Phosphorus transport pathways to streams in tile-drained agricultural watersheds. J Environ Qual 36:408–415. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2006.0098
U.S. Geological Survey (2019) Mineral commodity summaries 2019. In: U.S. Geological Survey (ed) U.S. Geological Survey. p 200
Gillis PL (2011) Assessing the toxicity of sodium chloride to the glochidia of freshwater mussels: implications for salinization of surface waters. Environ Pollut 159:1702–1708. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.02.032
Godwin KS, Hafner SD, Buff MF (2003) Long-term trends in sodium and chloride in the Mohawk River, New York: the effect of fifty years of road-salt application. Environ Pollut 124:273–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0269-7491(02)00481-5
Grimley D (2015) Drift thickness of Illinois. Draft edn. Illinois State Geological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois
Gutchess K, Jin L, Lautz L, Shaw SB, Zhou X, Lu Z (2016) Chloride sources in urban and rural headwater catchments, central New York. Sci Total Environ 565:462–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.181
Howard KWF, Beck PJ (1993) Hydrogeochemical implications of groundwater contamination by road de-icing chemicals. J Cont Hydrol 12:245–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-7722(93)90010-p
Howard KWF, Haynes J (1993) Groundwater contamination due to road de-icing chemicals–salt balance implications. Geosci Can 20:1–8
Hubbart JA, Kellner E, Hooper LW, Zeiger S (2017) Quantifying loading, toxic concentrations, and systemic persistence of chloride in a contemporary mixed-land-use watershed using an experimental watershed approach. Sci Total Environ 581–582:822–832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.019
Jackson RB, Jobbágy EG (2005) From icy roads to salty streams. P Natl Acad Sci USA 102:14487–14488. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0507389102
Jamshidi A, Goodarzi AR, Razmara P (2020) Long-term impacts of road salt application on the groundwater contamination in urban environments. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27:30162–30177. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09261-7
Johnson JD, Graney JR, Capo RC, Stewart BW (2015) Identification and quantification of regional brine and road salt sources in watersheds along the New York/Pennsylvania border, USA. Appl Geochem 60:37–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2014.08.002
Kaushal SS, Groffman PM, Likens GE, Belt KT, Stack WP, Kelly VR, Band LE, Fisher GT (2005) Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States. P Natl Acad Sci USA 102:13517–13520. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0506414102
Kelly WR (2008) Long-term trends in chloride concentrations in shallow aquifers near Chicago. Ground Water 46:772–781. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6584.2008.00466.x
Kelly VR, Lovett GM, Weathers KC, Findlay SEG, Strayer DL, Burns DJ, Likens GE (2008) Long-term sodium chloride retention in a rural watershed: legacy effects of road salt on streamwater concentration. Environ Sci Technol 42:410–415. https://doi.org/10.1021/es071391l
Kincaid DW, Findlay SEG (2009) Sources of elevated chloride in local streams: groundwater and soils as potential reservoirs. Water Air Soil Poll 203:335–342. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-009-0016-x
Kinoshita AM, Hogue TS, Barco J, Wessel C (2014) Chemical flushing from an urban-fringe watershed: hydrologic and riparian soil dynamics. Environ Earth Sci 72:879–889. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-3011-x
Koryak M, Stafford LJ, Reilly RJ, Magnuson PM (2001) Highway deicing salt runoff events and major ion concentrations along a small urban stream. J Freshw Ecol 16:125–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/02705060.2001.9663795
Labadia CF, Buttle JM (1996) Road salt accumulation in highway snow banks and transport through the unsaturated zone of the Oak Ridges Moraine, Southern Ontario. Hydrol Process 10:1575–1589. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1085(199612)10:12%3c1575::AID-HYP502%3e3.0.CO;2-1
Lampo LW (2017) Dynamics of nitrate, phosphorus, and suspended sediment transport in two agricultural streams in central Illinois. Illinois State University
Lax S, Peterson EW (2009) Characterization of chloride transport in the unsaturated zone near salted road. Environ Geol 58:1041–1049. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00254-008-1584-6
Ledford SH, Lautz LK, Stella JC (2016) Hydrogeologic processes impacting storage, fate, and transport of chloride from road salt in urban riparian aquifers. Environ Sci Technol 50:4979–4988. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b00402
Lilek J (2017) Roadway deicing in the United States: How a few industrial minerals supply a vital transportation service. In: (AGI) AGI (ed). American Geosciences Institute (AGI)
Löfgren S (2001) The chemical effects of deicing salt on soil and stream water of five catchments in southeast Sweden. Water Air Soil Pollut 130:863–868. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013895215558
Ludwikowski JJ, Peterson EW (2018) Transport and fate of chloride from road salt within a mixed urban and agricultural watershed in Illinois (USA): assessing the influence of chloride application rates. Hydrogeology Jour 26:1123–1135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-018-1732-3
McLean MM, Kelly MD, Riggs MH (1997) Thickness of quaternary deposits in McLean County, Illinois. Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, IL, USA
Meriano M, Eyles N, Howard KWF (2009) Hydrogeological impacts of road salt from Canada’s busiest highway on a Lake Ontario watershed (Frenchman’s Bay) and lagoon, City of Pickering. J Cont Hydrol 107:66–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2009.04.002
Mikkelsen PS, Häfliger M, Ochs M, Jacobsen P, Tjell JC, Boller M (1997) Pollution of soil and groundwater from infiltration of highly contaminated stormwater—a case study. Water Sci Technol 36:325–330. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0273-1223(97)00578-7
Moore J, Fanelli RM, Sekellick AJ (2020) High-frequency data reveal deicing salts drive elevated specific conductance and chloride along with pervasive and frequent exceedances of the U.S. environmental protection agency aquatic life criteria for chloride in urban streams. Environ Sci Technol 54:778–789. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04316
Mosley MP, McKerchar AI (1993) Streamflow. In: Maidment DR (ed) Handbook of hydrology. McGraw Hill, New York, pp 8.1-8.39
Nava V, Patelli M, Bonomi T, Stefania GA, Zanotti C, Fumagalli L, Soler V, Rotiroti M, Leoni B (2020) Chloride balance in freshwater system of a highly anthropized subalpine area: load and source quantification through a watershed approach. Water Resour Res 56:e2019026024. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR026024
Novotny EV, Sander AR, Mohseni O, Stefan HG (2009) Chloride ion transport and mass balance in a metropolitan area using road salt. Water Resour Res 45:n/a-n/a. https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008141
Oberhelman A, Peterson EW (2020) Chloride source delineation in an urban-agricultural watershed: deicing agents versus agricultural contributions. Hydrol Process. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.13861
Oeurng C, Sauvage S, Sánchez-Pérez J-M (2010) Dynamics of suspended sediment transport and yield in a large agricultural catchment, southwest France. Earth Surf Proc Land 35:1289–1301. https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.1971
Ostendorf DW (2013) Hydrograph and chloride pollutograph analysis of Hobbs Brook reservoir subbasin in eastern Massachusetts. J Hydrol 503:123–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.09.003
Oswald CJ, Giberson G, Nicholls E, Wellen C, Oni S (2019) Spatial distribution and extent of urban land cover control watershed-scale chloride retention. Sci Total Environ 652:278–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.242
Perera N, Gharabaghi B, Howard K (2013) Groundwater chloride response in the Highland Creek watershed due to road salt application: a re-assessment after 20 years. J Hydrol 479:159–168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.11.057
Peterson EW, Benning C (2013) Factors influencing nitrate within a low-gradient agricultural stream. Environ Earth Sci 68:1233–1245. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1821-x
Peterson EW, Oberhelman A (2019) Supporting dataset for chloride source delineation in an urban-agricultural watershed, deicing agents versus agricultural contributions. Faculty Publications—Geography, Geology, and the Environment, August 2019 edn, https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpgeo/1
Ramos TB, Goncalves MC, Branco MA, Brito D, Rodrigues S, Sanchez-Perez JM, Sauvage S, Prazeres A, Martins JC, Fernandes ML, Pires FP (2015) Sediment and nutrient dynamics during storm events in the Enxoe temporary river, southern Portugal. CATENA 127:177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.01.001
Rasul H, Earon R, Olofsson B (2018) Detecting seasonal flow pathways in road structures using tracer tests and ERT. Water Air Soil Pollut 229:358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-018-4008-6
Rivett MO, Cuthbert MO, Gamble R, Connon LE, Pearson A, Shepley MG, Davis J (2016) Highway deicing salt dynamic runoff to surface water and subsequent infiltration to groundwater during severe UK winters. Sci Total Environ 565:324–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.095
Robinson HK, Hasenmueller EA, Chambers LG (2017) Soil as a reservoir for road salt retention leading to its gradual release to groundwater. Appl Geochem 83:72–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.01.018
Roy JW, McInnis R, Bickerton G, Gillis PL (2015) Assessing potential toxicity of chloride-affected groundwater discharging to an urban stream using juvenile freshwater mussels (Lampsilis siliquoidea). Sci Total Environ 532:309–315. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.06.023
Royer TV, David MB, Gentry LE (2006) Timing of riverine export of nitrate and phosphorus from agricultural watersheds in Illinois: Implications for reducing nutrient loading to the Mississippi River. Environ Sci Technol 40:4126–4131. https://doi.org/10.1021/es052573n
Ruth O (2003) The effects of de-icing in Helsinki urban streams, Southern Finland. Water Sci Technol 48:33–43
Salant NL, Hassan MA, Alonso CV (2008) Suspended sediment dynamics at high and low storm flows in two small watersheds. Hydrol Process 22:1573–1587. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.6743
Schulz C-J, Cañedo-Argüelles M (2019) Lost in translation: the German literature on freshwater salinization. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 374:20180007. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0007
Scott WS (1976) The effect of road deicing salts on sodium concentration in an urban water-course. Environ Pollut 10:141–153. https://doi.org/10.1016/0013-9327(76)90103-8
Sharpley AN, Kleinman PJA, Heathwaite AL, Gburek WJ, Folmar GJ, Schmidt JR (2008) Phosphorus loss from an agricultural watershed as a function of storm size. J Environ Qual 37:362–368. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2007.0366
Snodgrass JW, Moore J, Lev SM, Casey RE, Ownby DR, Flora RF, Izzo G (2017) Influence of modern stormwater management practices on transport of road salt to surface waters. Environ Sci Technol 51:4165–4172. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b03107
Stiff BJ (2000) Surficial deposits of Illinois. Open File Map 2000-7 edn. Illinois State Geological Survey
Stirpe CR, Cunningham MA, Menking KM (2017) How will climate change affect road salt export from watersheds? Water Air Soil Pollut 228:362. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-017-3455-9
Stokes J (2018) McLean County Engineer. In: Oberhelman A (ed)
Van der Hoven SJ, Fromm NJ, Peterson EW (2008) Quantifying nitrogen cycling beneath a meander of a low gradient, N-impacted, agricultural stream using tracers and numerical modelling. Hydrol Process 22:1206–1215. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.6691
Wallace A, Biastoch R (2016) Detecting changes in the benthic invertebrate community in response to increasing chloride in streams in Toronto, Canada. Freshw Sci 35:353–363
Watson LR, Bayless ER, Buszka PM, Wilson JT (2002) Effects of highway-deicer application on ground-water quality in a part of the calumet aquifer, Northwestern Indiana. In: United States Geological Survey (ed). United States Geological Survey, Indianapolis, Indiana. p 153
Weedman NR, Malone DH, Shields WE (2014) Surficial geologic map of the normal west 7.5 minute Quadrangle, McLean County, Illinois. 2014 GSA Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the City of Bloomington and property owners for access to the sampling locations. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggests that have improved the paper.
Funding
A.O. received a student research grant from the Illinois Groundwater Association.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Conceptualization, AO and EP; methodology, AO and EP; formal analysis, AO; investigation, AO and EP; data curation, EP; writing—original draft preparation, AO; writing—review and editing, AO, and EP; visualization, AO and EP; supervision, EP; project administration, EP. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Oberhelman, A., Peterson, E.W. Seasonal and stormflow chloride loads in an urban–agricultural watershed in central Illinois, USA. Environ Earth Sci 80, 445 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09744-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-021-09744-x