Abstract
The negative impacts of road salt (primarily NaCl) on freshwater ecosystems and ground and surface waters used for drinking purposes have been extensively documented. Besides direct increases in chloride (Cl−) and sodium (Na+) concentrations in receiving waters, these ions are responsible for a myriad of soil chemical changes and processes resulting in increased corrosivity of water and subsequent leaching of lead (Pb) and copper (Cu); mobilization of heavy metals in soils to ground and surface water including cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), Cu, Pb, nickel (Ni), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn); and radionuclide mobilization presenting increased risks to drinking water quality. This article summarizes literature describing the mechanisms and the implications of road salt on water corrosivity and mobilization of both metals and radionuclides on groundwater resources and public health.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Acosta, J. A., Jansen, B., Kalbitz, K., Faz, A., & Martínez-Martínez, S. (2011). Salinity increases mobility of heavy metals in soils. Chemosphere, 85, 318–1324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.07.046.
Alam, M. S., & Cheng, T. (2014). Uranium release from sediment to groundwater: Influence of water chemistry and insights into release mechanisms. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 164, 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jconhyd.2014.06.001.
Amrhein, C., Strong, J. E., & Mosher, P. A. (1992). Effect of deicing salts on metal and organic matter mobilization in roadside soils. Environmental Science & Technology, 26, 703–709. https://doi.org/10.1021/es00028a006.
Amrhein, C., Mosher, P. A., Strong, J. E., & Pacheco, P. G. (1994). Trace metal solubility in soils and waters receiving deicing salts. Environmental Quality, 23, 219–227. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq1994.00472425002300020001x.
Backstrom, M., Karlsson, S., Backman, L., Folkeson, L., & Lind, B. (2004). Mobilization of heavy metals by deicing salts in a roadside environment. Water Research, 38, 720–732. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2003.11.006.
Bird, D. L., Groffman, P. M., Salice, C. J., & Moore, J. (2018). Steady-state land cover but non-steady-state major ion chemistry in urban streams. Environmental Science and Technology, 52, 13015–13026. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b03587.
Bolton, D. W. (2000). Occurrence and distribution of radium, gross alpha-particle activity, and gross beta-particle activity in ground water in the Magothy formation and Potomac group aquifers, upper Chesapeake Bay Area, Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey. Report of Investigations No. 70. http://www.mgs.md.gov/reports/RI_70.pdf.
CDC. (1990). Public health statement- radium. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. CAS#: 7440-14-4. https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/brochure/profile_radon.htm
Cooper, C. A., Mayer, P. M., & Faulkner, B. R. (2014). Effects of road salts on groundwater and surface water dynamics of sodium and chloride in an urban restored stream. Biogeochemistry, 121, 149–166. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-014-9968-z.
Deberry, D. W., Kidwell, J. R., & Malish, D. A. (1982). Corrosion in potable water systems. USEPA Office of Drinking Water Final Report., C79–C014 https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/9100CILD.PDF?Dockey=9100CILD.PDF.
Droste, R. L., & Johnston, J. C. (1993). Urban snow dump quality and pollutant reduction in snowmelt by sedimentation. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 20(1), 9–21. https://doi.org/10.1139/l93-002.
Dupont, R. R., Eisenberg, T. N., & Middlebrooks, J. E. (1982). Reverse osmosis in the treatment of drinking water (1982). Utah State University. Reports, 505. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/water_rep/505
Edwards, M. A. (2004). Controlling corrosion in drinking water distribution systems: A grand challenge for the 21st century. Water Science and Technology, 49, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2004.0073.
Edwards, M. A., & Triantafyllidou, S. (2007). Chloride-to-sulfate mass ratio and lead leaching to water. Journal American Water Works Association, 99(7), 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.2007.tb07984.x.
USEPA. (2000). National primary drinking water pegulations; radionuclides; final rule. Federal Register. 65 FR 76707. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2000/12/07/00-30421/national-primary-drinking-water-regulations-radionuclides-final-rule.
USEPA. (2002). Radionuclides in drinking water: A small entity compliance guide. EPA 815-R-02-001. https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1307/ML13078A038.pdf
USEPA. (2005). A regulator’s guide to the management of radioactive residuals from drinking water treatment technologies. EPA 816-R-05-004. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-05/documents/816-r-05-004.pdf.
USEPA. (2006). Point-of-use or point-of-entry treatment options for small drinking water systems. EPA 815-R-06-010. https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-09/documents/guide_smallsystems_pou-poe_june6-2006.pdf.
USEPA. (2009). National primary drinking water regulations. https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/P1005EJT.PDF?Dockey=P1005EJT.PDF
USEPA. (2012). Report to congress: Radon in drinking water regulations. EPA-815-R-12-002. https://archive.epa.gov/water/archive/web/pdf/epa815r12002.pdf.
USEPA. (2020). Natural radionuclides in private wells. https://www.epa.gov/radtown/natural-radionuclides-private-wells#about-natural-radionuclides-private-wells
Focazio, M. J., Szabo, Z., Kraemer, T. F., Mullin, A. H., Barringer, T. H., & De Paul, V. T. (1998). Occurrence of selected radionuclides in ground water used for drinking water in the United States: a targeted reconnaissance survey, 1998. US Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 00–4273. https://pubs.usgs.gov/wri/wri004273/pdf/wri004273.pdf.
Guesdon, G., Santiago-Martin, A., Raymond, S., Messaoud, H., Michaux, A., Roy, S., & Galvez, R. (2016). Impacts of salinity on saint-Augustin Lake, Canada: Remediation measures at watershed scale. Water, 8, 285. https://doi.org/10.3390/w8070285.
Hernandez-Soriano, M. C., & Jimenez-Lopez, J. C. (2012). Effects of soil water content and organic matter addition on the speciation and bioavailability of heavy metals. Science of the Total Environment, 423–55-61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.02.033.
Huling, E. E., & Hollocher, T. C. (1972). Groundwater contamination by road salt: Steady-state concentrations in East Central Massachusetts. Science, 176(4032), 288–290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.176.4032.288.
Kelly, V. R., Lovett, G. M., Weathers, K. C., Findlay, S. E. G., Strayer, D. L., Burns, D. J., & Likens, G. E. (2008). Long-term sodium chloride retention in a rural watershed: Legacy effects of road salt on streamwater concentration. Environmental Science & Technology, 42, 410–415. https://doi.org/10.1021/es071391l.
Kelly, T. D., and Matos, G. R., comps., 2016, Historical statistics for mineral and material commodities in the United States (2016 version): U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 140. https://www.usgs.gov/centers/nmic/historical-statistics-mineral-and-material-commodities-united-states.
Kaushal, S. S., Groffman, P. M., Likens, G. E., Belt, K. T., Stack, W. P., Kelly, V. R., Band, L. E., & Fisher, G. T. (2005). Increased salinization of fresh water in the northeastern United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 102, 13517–13520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.02.006.
Kaushal, S. S. (2016). Increases salinization decreases safe drinking water. Environmental Science & Technology, 50, 2765–2766. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b00679.
Komárek, M. A., Vanek, A., & Ettler, V. (2013). Chemical stabilization of metals and arsenic in contaminated soils using oxides - a review. Environmental Pollution, 172, 9–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2012.07.045.
Kreutzwiser, R., de Loe, J., Imgrund, K., Conboy, M. J., Simpson, H., & Plummer, R. (2011). Understanding stewardship behaviour: Factors facilitating and constraining private water well stewardship. Journal of Environmental Management, 92(4), 1104–1114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2010.11.017.
Levin, R., Schock, M. R., & Clark, R. M. (1989). The current state of corrosion control: Technologies and costs (pp. 575–604). PA: Proceedings of the AWWA Water Quality Technology Conference in Philadelphia.
Linde, M., Öborn, I., & Gustafsson, J. P. (2007). Effects of changed soil conditions on the mobility of trace metals in moderately contaminated urban soils. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 183, 69–83. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-007-9357-5.
Liukkonen, B., Severtson, L., & Kline-Robach, R. (2009). Social dimensions of private well testing: Why don’t people test their well water? St. Paul, MN: University of Minnesota Extension Service. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy http://hdl.handle.net/11299/58540.
Lofgren, S. (2001). The chemical effects of deicing salt on soil and stream water of five catchments in Southeast Sweden. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 130, 863–868. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013895215558.
Lumsdon, D. G., Evans, L. J., & Bolton, K. A. (1995). The influence of pH and chloride on the retention of cadmium, lead, mercury, and zinc by soils. Soil and Sediment Contamination, 4(2), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/15320389509383488.
Lytle, D. A., Sarin, P., & Snoeyink, V. L. (2005). The effect of chloride and orthophosphate on the release of iron from a cast iron pipe section. Journal of Water Supply: Research and Technology-AQUA, 54(5), 267–281. https://doi.org/10.2166/aqua.2005.0026.
Malecki, K. M. C., Schultz, A. A., Severtson, D. J., Anderson, H. A., & VanDerslice, J. A. (2017). Private-well stewardship among a general population based sample of private well owners. Science of the Total Environment, 601-602, 1533–1543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.284.
McNaboe, L. A., Robbins, G. A., & Dietz, M. E. (2017). Mobilization of radium and radon by road salt contamination of groundwater. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 228, 94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-016-3227-y.
Morgan, R. P., Kline, K. M., Kline, M. J., Cushman, S. F., Sell, M. T., Weitzell, R. E., & Churchill, J. B. (2012). Stream conductivity: Relationships to land use, chloride, and fishes in Maryland streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 32, 941–952. https://doi.org/10.1080/02755947.2012.703159.
Nelson, S. S., Yonge, D. R., & Barber, M. E. (2009). Effects of road salts on heavy metal mobility in two eastern Washington soils. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 135, 505–510 https://ascelibrary.https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/%28ASCE%290733-9372%282009%29135%3A7%28505%29.
Ng, D. Q., & Lin, Y. P. (2016). Effects of pH value, chloride and sulfate concentrations on galvanic corrosion between lead and Cu in drinking water. Environmental Chemistry, 13, 602–610. https://doi.org/10.1071/EN15156.
Nguyen, C. K., Stone, K. R., Dudi, A., & Edwards, M. A. (2010). Corrosive microenvironments at lead solder surfaces arising from galvanic corrosion with Cu pipe. Environmental Science and Technology, 44, 7076–7081. https://doi.org/10.1021/es1015185.
Norrstrom, A. C., & Jacks, G. (1998). Concentration and fractionation of heavy metals in roadside soils receiving de-icing salts. The Science of the Total Environment, 218, 161–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697%2898%2900203-4.
Norrstrom, A. C. (2005). Metal mobility by de-icing salt from an infiltration trench for highway runoff. Applied Geochemistry, 20, 1907–1919. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2005.06.002.
Novotny, V., Muehring, D., Zitomer, D. H., Smith, D. W., & Facey, R. (1998). Cyanide and metal pollution by urban snowmelt: Impact of deicing compounds. Water Science and Technology, 38, 223–230. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.1998.0405.
Park, J. H., Choppala, G. K., Bolan, N. S., Chung, J. W., & Chuasavathi, T. (2011). Biochar reduces the bioavailability and phytotoxicity of heavy metals. Plant Science, 348, 439–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-011-0948-y.
Pieper, K. J., Tang, M., & Edwards, M. A. (2017). Flint water crisis caused by interrupted corrosion control: Investigating “ground zero” home. Environmental Science and Technology, 51, 2007–2014. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04034.
Pieper, K. J., Tang, M., Jones, C. N., Weiss, S., Greene, A., Mohsin, H., Parks, J., & Edwards, M. A. (2018). Impact of road salt on drinking water quality and infrastructure corrosion in private wells. Environmental Science and Technology, 52, 14078–14087. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b04709.
Rahman, M. A., Reichman, S. M., De Filippis, L., Tavakoly Sany, S. B., & Hasegawa, H. (2016). Phytoremediation of toxic metals in soils and wetlands: Concepts and applications. In H. Hasegawa, I. Rahman, & M. Rahman (Eds.), Environmental remediation technologies for metal-contaminated soils. Tokyo: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55759-3_8.
Riedel, T., & Kübeck, C. (2018). Uranium in groundwater – A synopsis based on a large hydrogeochemical data set. Water Research, 129, 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.11.001.
Robinson, H. K., Hasenmueller, E. A., & Chambers, L. G. (2017). Soil as a reservoir for road salt retention leading to its gradual release to groundwater. Applied Geochemistry, 83, 72–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2017.01.018.
Ryder, R. A. (1980). The costs of internal corrosion in water systems. Journal of American Water Works Association, 72(5), 267. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.1980.tb04511.x.
Shock, R. S., & Neff, C. H. (1998). Trace metal contamination from brass fittings. Journal of the American Water Works Association, 80, 47–56. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1551-8833.1988.tb03134.x.
Schuler, M. S., Canedo-Arguelles, M., Hinyz, W. D., Dyack, B., Birk, S., & Relyea, R. A. (2019). Regulations are needed to protect freshwater ecosystems from salinization. Philosophical Transactions Royal Society, B, 374. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2018.0019.
Schuler, M. S., & Relyea, R. A. (2019). A review of the combined threats of road salts and heavy metals to freshwater systems. BioScience, 68, 327–335 https://doi-org.eres.qnl.qa/10.1093/biosci/biy018.
Snodgrass, J. M., Moore, J., Lev, S. M., Casey, R. E., Ownby, D. R., Flora, R. F., & Izzo, G. (2017). Influence of modern stormwater management practices on transport of road salt to surface waters. Environmental Science and Technology, 51, 4165–4172. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b03107.
St. Clair, J., Clement, C., Triantafyllidou, C. S., Brandi, C., & Edwards, M. A. (2016). Long-term behaviour of simulated partial lead service line replacements. Environmental Sciences, 33, 53–64. https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2015.0337.
Stets, E. G., Lee, C. J., Lytle, D. A., & Schock, M. R. (2018). Increasing chloride in rivers of the conterminous U.S. and linkages to potential corrosivity and lead action level exceedances in drinking water. Science of the Total Environment, 613–614, 1498–1509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.119.
Sun, H., Alexander, J., Gove, B., & Koch, M. (2015). Mobilization of arsenic, lead, and mercury under conditions of sea water intrusion and road deicing salt application. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 180, 12–24.
Tchounwou, P. B., Yedjou, C. G., Patlolla, A. K., & Sutton, D. J. (2012). Heavy metals toxicity and the environment. In A. Luch (Ed.), Molecular, Clinical Environmental Toxicology. Experimental Supplementum (Vol. 101, pp. 133–164. Springer. Basel). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8340-4_6.
Uchimiya, M., Lima, I. M., Klasson, K. T., & Wartelle, L. H. (2010). Contaminant immobilization and nutrient release by biochar soil amendment: Roles of natural organic matter. Chemosphere, 80, 935–940. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2010.05.020.
USUSDA. Rural Development. 2020. Household Water Well System Grants. https://www.rd.usda.gov/programs-services/household-water-well-system-grants.
Viraraghavan, T., Subramanian, K. S., & Venkata Rao, B. (1999). Impact of household plumbing fixtures on drinking water quality - a review. International Journal of Environmental Studies, 56(5), 717–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207239908711234.
Walker, R., & Oliphant, R. (1982). Corrosion of lead in drinking water. Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, 29, 8–11. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb007191.
Weng, L., Temminghoff, E. J. M., Lofts, S., Tipping, E., & Van Riemsdijk, W. H. (2002). Complexation with dissolved organic matter and solubility control of heavy metals in a sandy soil. Environmental Science & Technology, 36, 4804–4810. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0200084.
Willison, H., & Boyer, T. B. (2012). Secondary effects of anion exchange on chloride, sulfate, and lead release: Systems approach to corrosion control. Water Research, 46, 2385–2394. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2012.02.010.
Zhang, X., Wang, H., He, L., Lu, K., Sarmah, A., Li, J., Bolan, N. S., Pei, J., & Huang, H. (2013). Using biochar for remediation of soils contaminated with heavy metals and organic pollutants. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 20, 8472–8483. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-013-1659-0.
Zhao, S., Feng, C., Wang, D., Liu, Y., & Shen, Z. (2013). Salinity increases the mobility of cadmium, cu, Mn, and Pb in the sediments of Yangtze estuary: Relative role of sediments’ properties and metal speciation. Chemosphere, 91, 977–984. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2013.02.001.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lazur, A., VanDerwerker, T. & Koepenick, K. Review of Implications of Road Salt Use on Groundwater Quality—Corrosivity and Mobilization of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides. Water Air Soil Pollut 231, 474 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04843-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04843-0