27
•Acidification(air pollution)
Modern Threats to ADK Waters
•Eutrophication(local land uses)
•Aquatic Invasive Species (boaters)
•Salinization(road salting)
From report prepared by Bergmann Associates
Stakeholder Outreach Meetings (July 2008)Environment Focus Group
Black River Watershed Management Plan
What investment is needed to address environmental concerns in the region?
1) Inter-municipal cooperation for planning
2) Need better capacity to serve on boards
3) Improved road salting process and education
•We use a lot of salt
• Regional salinization
• Impacts on ecosystems and drinking water
• If we care we should act
Take Home Messages
Salinization - What Is Road Salt?
• Mineral = Halite
• Chemical = Sodium Chloride
• Formula = NaCl
+ Ice/Snow =
Na+ + Cl- + Water
Road Length by Type
• 2,830 lane-mi state roads
• 7,725 lane-mi local roads
Annual Salt Use by Type
• 108,000 tons on state roads
• 84,700 tons on local roads
Kelting and Laxson 2010
10,555 lane-milesof paved roads
Paved Roads & Salt Use: Adirondack Park
Road Length by Type
• 86 lane-mi state roads (3%)
• 450 lane-mi local roads (6%)
Annual Salt Use by Type
• 3,282 tons on state roads (3%)
• 4,934 tons on local roads (6%)
536 lane-milesof paved roads (5%)
Paved Roads & Salt Use: Black River Watershed
Runoff Event
•March 12, 2015
•5,000 ppm Chloride
•1/4th of sea water!
Hayes BrookTruck Trail
Salinization Begins with Runoff
Parkwide:192,700 Tons of
NaCl Runoffper Year
State Route 3076 Tons Per Year
Salinization Begins with Runoff
Salted Roads and Surface Water
•6,000 miles of streams
•52% of total length
•195,000 acres of lakes
•77% of total acres
•820 waterbodies
Salinization – What Do We Know?
•84 Lakes AWI/ALAP
•54 Lakes ALSC
•25 Streams AWI
Median Chloride Concentrations
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Lakes Streams
Ch
lori
de
(m
g/L
)
No Roads
Roads
Kelting et al 2012/14
Chloride in BR Watershed Lakes
Chloride (mg/L)
Chloride and Road Density
R² = 0.81
R² = 0.85
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ch
lori
de
(m
g/L
)
State Road Density (lane-mi/mi2)
Lakes
Streams
Kelting et al 2012/14
Stream Chloride Loadings
Upper Saranac LakeWatershed
Blue Mountain LakeWatershed
Upper Saranac Lake
•May to Oct 2015/16
•Black Brook (no roads)•1 lb Cl per acre
•Cranberry Brook (SR 3)•44 lbs Cl per acre
Laxson, C.L., Yerger, E.C., and D.L. Kelting. 2017. Upper Saranac Lake Watershed Monitoring Project: Program Update, Year 2016. Report No: PSCAWI 2017-06.
Blue Mountain Lake
•May to Oct 2015/16
•Beaver Brook (no roads)•<1 lb Cl per acre
•Museum Brook (SR 28N)•22 lbs Cl per acre
Laxson, C.L., Yerger, E.C., and D.L. Kelting. 2017. Blue Mountain Lake Watershed Monitoring Project: Program Update, Year 2016. Report No: PSCAWI 2017-05.
Chloride & Food Web Components
Primary Producers •500 to 1000mg/L(Affenzeller et al. 2009; Dickman & Gochnauer 1978)
Zooplankton •5 to 30mg/L(Palmer & Yan 2013; Kelting et al. 2014)
MacroInverts.
•240 to 2500mg/L(Blasius & Merritt 2002; Berbow & Merritt 2004 )
Fish•50 to 230mg/L
(Morgan et al. 2007; Environment Canada 2000)
Aquatic Ecosystem Impacts
Low Chronic Impacts
Mod Chronic and Acute Impacts
High Chronic and Acute Impacts
No Impacts
• 24% (923)
• 41% (1,577)
• 33% (1,271)
• 2% (49)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 3,750 samples from 163 waterbodies
Drinking Water Impacts
Parameter Sodium Chloride
Range (ppm) <1 to 273 <1 to 393
Average (ppm) 36 47
Contaminated (%) 68 75
WQS Exceeded (%)1 20 2
NYS DEC Drinking Water Well Survey95 ADK wells sampled (2008-2012)
160ppm for Na & 250ppm for Cl
Drinking Water Impacts
Road RunoffAreas
Watershed Salt Accumulation
Boylen et al. 2014
Lake George
•We use a lot of salt
• Regional salinization
• Impacts on ecosystems and drinking water
• If we care we should act
Take Home Messages
Summer 2017 Drinking Water Study
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/V5VT9K6
400 Wells Across Adirondack Region• Private• Drilled• ADK Park
• No Cost
Sponsors: ADKActionCloudsplitter FoundationFund for Lake George
Partners and Funders
