Monitoring Chloride in the Spring Creek Watershed Adrienne Gemberling Water Resource Monitoring Project

Monitoring Purpose Water Resource Monitoring Project provides a reasonably accurate description of quality and quantity of surface and ground waters in the Spring Creek Watershed Baseflow water quality (quarterly at 23 locations) Water quantity (continuous at 16 locations) Allows for rapid detection of change in quality and quantity of water resources Photo: L. Davis

Water Resource Monitoring Project Established in 1998 Staffed by Water Resource Coordinator Overseen by Water Resource Monitoring Committee Local professional geologists, engineers, and aquatic biologists Funding provided by several sponsors: MunicipalitiesOthers Bellefonte BoroughState College Borough WA Benner TownshipSpring Township WA College TownshipPenn State OPP Ferguson TownshipTrout Unlimited (Spring Creek Chapter) Halfmoon TownshipUniversity Area Joint Authority Harris Township Patton Township Spring Township State College Borough

Surface Water Stations Slab Cabin Run Lower Spring Creek at USGS Milesburg Gage Logan Branch Lower Buffalo Run Lower Spring Creek at USGS Axemann Gage Logan Branch Upper Buffalo Run Valley View Buffalo Run Upper Spring Creek at USGS Houserville Gage Cedar Run Lower Spring Creek Upper Galbraith Gap Run Millbrook Marsh Thompson Run Lower Walnut Springs (3 sites) Legend Stream Monitoring Locations Groundwater Boundary Surface Water Boundary Big Hollow Buffalo Run Cedar Run Logan Branch Slab Cabin Run Spring Creek (main stem) Slab Cabin Run Upper

Groundwater Sampling Locations Big Spring Benner Spring USGS CE118 (Scotia 1) Windy Hill Farm Spring Linden Hall Spring Axemann Spring Blue Spring Continental Courts Spring Fillmore 1 Big Hollow (I99 MW1) USGS CE686 Pine Grove 2 (DCNR 2) Legend Groundwater Monitoring Well Groundwater Boundary Surface Water Boundary Big Hollow Buffalo Run Cedar Run Logan Branch Slab Cabin Run Spring Creek (main stem) Spring Monitoring Stations

Monitoring Project Outreach

What is chloride? Common usage: salt compound that consist of two elements: sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl) Sodium chloride readily dissolves in water Naturally found at various concentrations on Earth Adapted from wikipedia.org

Chloride in the environment Freshwater streams range: mg/L Unpolluted: 0-20 mg/L

Human usage of chloride Road Deicer orwell.culliganman.com Water Softeners Fertilizer lushburyfertilizer.com news.nationalgeogrpahic.com United States began using chloride as a deicer in late 1960’s 19.3 million ton average from Equates to 137 pounds per person

Chloride Movement Corsi et al Chloride is not naturally broken down, metabolized, taken up, or removed from the environment

Chloride Toxicity and Limits Aquatic organisms affected >1,000 mg/L Invertebrates first affected EPA stream standards 1-hour (acute) average: 860 mg/L 4-day (chronic) average: 230 mg/L EPA drinking water secondary standard 250 mg/L wfmu.org

Chloride in Urban Areas Baltimore study Chloride concentrations often exceed thresholds in urbanized areas Forested and agricultural areas generally have lower concentrations Corsi et al. 2015

The Spring Creek Watershed Goal of report: look at Chloride in surface and groundwater for 2014 dataset Trend analysis of

Chloride in 2014 n=15 n=8 No sites exceeded EPA water quality standards (230 mg/L)

Role of Land Use Evaluated 3 largest land uses in the Spring Creek Watershed Forested Area: 41% Agriculture: 30% Commercial and Residential Development: 22% y = x R² =

How does chloride move in the Spring Creek Watershed? Karst geology facilitates fast movement into groundwater Bypass filtration through soil and limestone layers Groundwater comprises ~80% of surface water nysgolfbmp.cals.cornell.edu

Chloride Trends over time Thiel-Sen Trend Analysis Part of Environmental Protection Agency’s ProUCL software for water quality data Performed on 12 stations Surface water monitoring sites 17 year dataset for each station Water quality data collected each quarter

Changes from Average change of 0.88 mg/L/year across increasing sites SiteTrend Avg. Change (mg/L/year) Buffalo Run at ColevilleIncreasing0.60 Buffalo Run above FillmoreIncreasing1.44 Cedar Run in Oak HallIncreasing0.12 Logan Branch in BellefonteIncreasing0.84 Logan Branch below Pleasant GapNo ChangeNA Slab Cabin Run at E. College Ave.No ChangeNA Slab Cabin Run at S. Atherton St.No ChangeNA Thompson Run at E. College Ave.Increasing1.20 Spring Creek in Oak HallIncreasing0.48 Spring Creek in HouservilleIncreasing1.08 Spring Creek below Fisherman’s Paradise Increasing1.20 Spring Creek in MilesburgIncreasing0.96 Influence of I99 Corridor

Summary Chlorides are accumulating in groundwater Subsequent rise in surface flow because it is fed by ~80% groundwater As salt application increases, we expect to see a rise in chloride concentrations in groundwater and surface water All sites still below thresholds for aquatic organisms and secondary drinking water standards at baseflow Compared to other urbanized areas our values are still low If current trend continues (~1 mg/L/year), in ~50 years we could be approaching water quality standard limits at some locations

Methods to Reduce Chloride Alternatives to straight rock salt Applying as a brine Combine with products from the food industry Organic deicers Use mechanical snow removal as early as possible Use of technology in salt trucks Decrease application

References Corsi, S.R. et al Road salt: widespread aquatic toxicity and water-quality impacts on environmental waters. U.S. Geological Survey Presentation. Corsi, S.R. et al River chloride trends in snow-affected urban watersheds: increasing concentrations outpace urban growth rate and are common among all seasons. Science of the Total Environment, 508:

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