|
|
|
|
The snow and ice during the winter months are countered with road salt. In the U.S. about 10 million tons of road salt are used each year (Road Salt Use for Winter Maintenance 2000). As the number of roadways increase, there will continue to be an increase in the use of road salt usage. Road salt is used to provide traction on the slick road surfaces by deicing the snow and ice. The road salt is used to penetrate through the accumulation of snow and ice to break its bond with the pavement. When the weather gets warmer, the melted snow and ice carrying sodium chloride find their way to our lakes, streams, and soil, and can have a negative impact on the environment. Streams and lakes contain low levels of naturally occurring salts, including chloride. These salts are essential to the aquatic organisms that live there. However, high concentrations of chloride are harmful to aquatic plants and animals. We studied how the road salt is distributed in the soil around Edgewood College, relative to distance from the curb. We also studied chloride levels at different soil depths. In order to do this we are testing the conductivity of the soil samples and the chloride levels within the soil samples. Closer to the curb we expected to see the upper layer to have greater chloride and conductivity levels, whereas we believed the deeper levels farther from the curb would have the greater chloride and conductivity levels.