Road Salt Delivery Mechanisms and Water Quality Impacts in the Hudson River Watershed
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Road salt entering surface stream channels can negatively impact water quality and ecosystem and human health. While it is generally understood that salt runs off into surface water with melting snow, much less is known about how and when salt enters surface streams through groundwater baseflow. This project examines how land use and watershed structure control delivery of road salt to the Hudson River. This question is addressed in the Hudson River Watershed using publicly available Hudson River Environmental Conditions Observing System (HRECOS) and US Geological Survey (USGS) data and data from independent researchers participating in The Hudson River Tributary and Subwatershed (THuRST) research network. For the watersheds in this study, results suggest that salt is entering surface streams through groundwater baseflow, but there is less evidence that salt is also delivered by the road network as snowmelt. The one exception is the Patroon Creek, the most urban study watershed, where large fluxes of salt in the winter and spring months are likely the result of road salt runoff.