Winter maintenance, chlorides and parking lots: Managing more with less!

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Winter maintenance, chlorides and parking lots
Managing more with less!
Dr. M. Stone Department of Geography and
Environmental Management University of
Waterloo Partnering for Snow Management
Success 2010 Snow and Ice Symposium Mississauga,
Ontario

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Overview

• Road Salt and the Environment
• Winter Maintenance and Parking Lots
• Clarkson Go Station Parking Lot Study
• Smart About Salt Program
• Barriers to Implementation

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Impacts of road salt on source water

• Mass loading influenced by
• Season
• Road type/class
• Snow clearing practices
• Drainage infrastructure
• Subsurface geology
• Lawn watering

Highly spatially and temporally heterogeneous.
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Historical Context

• Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999
• (Environment Canada, 2001)
• significant losses of chloride from road salt
  adversely impact
• - freshwater ecosystems
• - terrestrial ecosystems (soil, vegetation
  wildlife)
• - drinking water supplies

http//www.ec.gc.ca/substances/ese/eng/psap/final/
roadsalts.cfm
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Historical Context

• Code of Practice for the Environmental Management
  of Road Salt, 2004
• Designed to help municipalities/authorities
  better manage salt use to reduce adverse
  environmental impacts of chloride while
  maintaining road safety.
• http//www.tac-atc.ca/english/resourcecentre/roads
  alt.cfm

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Historical Context

• Recommendations of the Code
• 1. Develop salt management plans, based on a
  review of existing road maintenance operations,
  identification of means and goal setting to
  reduce the negative impacts of salt releases
• 2. Implement best management practices (BMPs)
  in areas of salt application, salt storage and
  snow disposal as reported in the Transportation
  Association of Canadas (TAC) Syntheses of Best
  Management Practices.

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Syntheses of Best Practices - Road Salt
Management

• 1 Salt Management Plans
• 2 Training
• 3 Road and Bridge Design
• 4 Drainage and Stormwater Management
• 5 Pavements and Salt Management
• 6 Vegetation Management
• 7 Design and Operation of Road Maintenance Yards
• 8 Snow Storage and Disposal
• 9 Winter Maintenance Equipment and Technologies

http//www.tac-atc.ca/english/resourcecentre/roads
alt.cfm
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Historical Context

• Assumption
• Voluntary, state-of-the-art salt management
  practices when applied as per Code
  recommendations will benefit the environment and
  road authorities by
• - reduce chloride levels
• - improve water soil conditions
• - increase operational efficiency
• - improve roadway safety
• - provide cost savings
• APPLIES TO ORGANIZATIONS THAT APPLY gt 500 T
  SALT/YEAR

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Mullaney, J.R., Lorenz, D.L., Arntson, A.D.,
2009, Chloride in groundwater and surface water
in areas underlain by the glacial aquifer system,
northern United States U.S. Geological Survey
Scientific Investigations Report 20095086, 41 p.
The link to the full report can be found on the
NAWQA glacial aquifer system web page at
 http//water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studies/praq/glacaq/
index.html
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Source Mullaney et al (2009) USGS Scientific
Investigations Report 20095086.
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Groundwater Cl levels in the NE US
Source Mullaney et al (2009) USGS Scientific
Investigations Report 20095086.
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Groundwater Na levels in the NE US
Source Mullaney et al (2009) USGS Scientific
Investigations Report 20095086.
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Maximum Cl levels in NE US
Mullaney et al (2009) U.S. Geological Survey
Scientific Investigations Report 20095086, 41 p.
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Historical Salt Loading Region of Waterloo
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Greenbrook Well Field
0 5km
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East
West
Greenbrook Well Field
0 5km
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Waterloo Moraine
Nith River
Nith River
Grand River
0 10 km
Paul Martin, WHI
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Greenbrook Well Field
10 year capture zone
0 1 km

• 100 years of production history.
• 5 wells pumping 3 million gals/day.
• average well depth, 180 ft. in glacial
  sediments.
• progressive increase in Na and Cl concentrations
  
• over past 30-40 years.

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Chloride Concentration at the Greenbrook Well
Field
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Kitchener-Waterloo Road Network
1950
Greenbrook Well Field
2 km
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Kitchener-Waterloo Road Network
2000
Greenbrook Well Field
2 km
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Continuous Coring
Well Installation Application of Bromide Tracer
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Road Shoulder Profiles
Water Table
Well Screen
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Water Table
Source Width
Repeat Chloride Profiling
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Winter Maintenance and Parking Lots and Sidewalks
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Over application of salt

• Expectations of property owners for bare
  pavement
• Lack of understanding of how deicers function
• Fear of litigation

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Improper drainage from buildings
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Location of snow storage related to excessive
salt application (Photograph by Bob Hodgins)
Good example of snow storage (Photograph by Bob
Hodgins)
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Poor condition of pavement promotes loss of
chloride by infiltration to the subsurface.
(Photograph by Bob Hodgins)
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Winter Parking Lot and Sidewalk Maintenance

• Deicers melt snow and ice but provide no
  traction
• Anti-icing prevents the bond forming between
  pavement and ice
• Deicing works best if you plow before applying
  material
• Pick the right material for the pavement
  temperature
• Sand only works on top of snow as traction
  provides no melting
• Anti-icing chemicals must be applied before
  snowfall
• Road salt does not work at temperatures lt 15 º F

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Melt times for salt (NaCl ) at different
pavement temperatures
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Melting Characteristics
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Variables affecting application rates

• Increase rate if
• compaction occurs and cannot be mechanically
  removed
• too much snow left behind
• Decrease rate if
• light snow on freezing rain
• pavement temperature is rising
• subsequent applications

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Clarkson Go Station Parking Lot Study
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4 t of common road salt typically applied (0.2
kgm-2) per event 10 x the rate used on
provincial roads
Mountain Organic Natural Icemelter (0.01 to 0.14
kg m-2)
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GO 1
GO3
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Conclusions

• The hydrologic response from both parking lots
  was flashy and tightly coupled with the type and
  amount of precipitation inputs as well as the
  specific processes that induced the melt (i.e.
  chemical melt versus temperature induced melt).
• The maximum discharge was 50 Ls-1 and 82 Ls-1 for
  the GO1 and GO 3 parking lots, respectively.
• The event mean chloride concentration for the 26
  monitored events was 14,561 mg L-1 and 6,816 mg
  L-1 for the GO 1 and GO 3 parking lots,
  respectively.
• However, average chloride loads (g m-2) were
  higher by a factor of 2.3 for GO 1 (46 gm-2)
  compared to GO 3 (20 gm-2).

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Leanne Lobe October 15/07
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Salt Reduction Initiatives

• Parking Lots and Sidewalks
• Surveys
• Barrier Analysis
• Pilot studies
• Guide to Salt Management
• Self-assessment Tool
• Salt Management Workshop

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• Sometimes less really is more
• Safety is a priority
• Building partnerships
• Engaging the stakeholders
• Overcoming the barriers
• Identifying the motivators

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Designation Process
Registered
Company and/or Facility
Snow Removal Contractor
Professional
Certified
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Smart about Salt - Benefits

• Insurance advantages
• Access to data
• Marketing opportunities
• Program efficiency
• Environmental stewardship
• Leadership

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Barriers to Implementation!

• Lack of stakeholder interest/commitment
• Lack of means
• Lack of awareness and access to information
• Dynamics of enforcement
• Overcoming history and lack of experience
• Lack of incentives for adoption of new
  technologies/actions
• Inability to adapt
• Uncontrollable external circumstances
• Degree and speed of change

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Clean Water Act

• Introduced in 2005 and passed in 2006
• To protect existing and future drinking waters in
  order to protect and enhance human and ecosystem
  health
• SWP represents first barrier in multi-barrier
  approach to providing safe and sustained water
  supplies

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Requirements of the Clean Water Act
Create Source Protection Committees (SPC) to

• Define source protection area
• Identify potential threats
• Take action to prevent threats from becoming
  significant
• Require public participation on every local SWP
  Plan
• Plans and actions be based on science

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Clean Water Act Focus

• Reduce significant risks to drinking water
• Municipal water sources
• Vulnerable areas
• Wellhead protection areas
• Intake protection areas
• Highly vulnerable areas
• Plans to reduce significant risks to accept able
  levels and prevent future significant risks

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Intake Protection Zones (IPZ) Vulnerability

• Closer to intake increase the vulnerability to
  risk
• Zone 1 minimum 1 km radius
• Zone 2 minimum 2 hr travel time to intake

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Potential Threats

• Oil and gas
• Aggregate extraction
• Storage tanks
• Chemical use
• Mines and mine tailings
• Contaminated sites
• Waste disposal sites
• Pesticides

• Hazardous industrial wastes
• Bio-solids
• Septic tanks
• Stormwater
• Wastewater
• Land drainage
• Road salt

Listed in Section 1.1 of Ontario Regulation
287/07
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Implications of SWP for Road Salt Management

1. Improved design and delivery of parking lot
   winter maintenance programs
2. Increased adoption of new technology
3. Improved delineation of salt vulnerable areas and
   refined winter maintenance procedures in IPZs.
4. Increased level of training (certification) for
   road authorities and private contractors
5. Integration of salt management plans with SPCs
   objectives to delineate source waters, identify
   threats and develop and implement SWP Plan
6. Improved stormwater management practices