Potential Hydrologic Pathways of Deicing Salt Chloride Transport Evaluated with SWMM
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 8
Abstract
Deicing salts are a major contributor to freshwater salinization in the Northeastern United States, disrupting ecosystem function, aquatic life, and infrastructure integrity. It is often presumed that surface runoff is the dominant mode of chloride transport from impervious surfaces to surface waters despite empirical evidence for soil and groundwater transport. Our project aimed to (1) estimate the hydrologic pathways for chloride transport in a small, urbanized catchment in the Northeastern United States; and (2) provide a critical evaluation of simulation routines commonly used to guide the management of deicing salts. We investigated possible variations in urban chloride pathways by monitoring stormwater discharge and chloride across a winter season with deicing salt spreading and snow accumulation and melt. We analyzed these time series with US EPA SWMM, which presumes chloride transport occurs exclusively via surface runoff into stormwater systems. We develop two parallel models: one using the base empirical temperature-index snow routines, and a second substituting a process-based snowmelt model. Each model was calibrated via the generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation algorithm to both stormwater volumes and chloride mass. Both models adequately simulated water volumes but failed to reproduce observed chloride dynamics, suggesting substantial deicing salt movement through soils and groundwater as a major urban hydrologic pathway. The results of this study will inform the development of urban hydrologic fate and transport models and chloride best management practices.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available in a repository online in accordance with funder data retention policies. Precipitation, temperature, and wind speed data are available at repositories cited within the literature. The observed discharge and specific conductance data (Snarski and Dietz 2022) used for this study are publicly available at: Roberts Brook Discharge and Specific Conductance Monitoring Data, HydroShare, http://www.hydroshare.org/resource/0dccffd64b2a404cabd32d8ced9e9977.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 8 • August 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 31, 2022
Accepted: Mar 24, 2023
Published online: May 27, 2023
Published in print: Aug 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Oct 27, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Chemical compounds
- Chemicals
- Chemistry
- Chloride
- Cold regions engineering
- Deicing
- Engineering fundamentals
- Environmental engineering
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrologic models
- Hydrology
- Ice
- Infrastructure
- Models (by type)
- Runoff
- Salts
- Stormwater management
- Urban and regional development
- Water and water resources
- Water treatment
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