Salinization of Ohio Rivers: More Chloride, More Problems

Salinization of aquatic ecosystems has a number of negative effects on the biota, water quality, and physical infrastructure and is an emerging environmental problem of the 21st century.  Herein, we provide analyses of trends in chloride concentrations in watersheds in the Lake Erie, Ohio River, and Grand Lake St. Marys watersheds using long-term monitoring data obtained through the Heidelberg Tributary Loading Program (some watersheds sampled since 1974).  We used simple linear regressions, ANOVAs, and Weighted Regression on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) to analyze chloride trends.  Further, we used relative concentrations of chloride and nitrate to delineate possible sources of chloride (i.e., road salt, fertilizer, animal or human waste) in the Grand Lake St. Marys and Ohio River watersheds.  We found that the Cuyahoga River (urban watershed), had the highest watershed yield and mean concentrations of chloride and increased the most with time.  In addition, chloride was seasonally greatest in winter and spring when salt is applied as a deicing agent in the Cuyahoga watershed.  However, we also found that small streams around Grand Lake St. Marys watershed could also have consistently high chloride values, with the greatest values occurring in the fall. In these agricultural watershed streams it seems likely that animal or septic sources and inorganic fertilizers were likely substantial sources of chloride, as they likely were in an agricultural watershed in the Ohio River watershed.  

Primary Presenter: Douglas Kane, Heidelberg University (dkane@heidelberg.edu)

Authors:

Nathan Manning, Heidelberg University, National Center for Water Quality Research  (nmanning@heidelberg.edu)

Stephen Jacquemin, Wright State University- Lake Campus  (stephen.jacquemin@wright.edu)

Laura Johnson, Heidelberg University, National Center for Water Quality Research  (ljohnson@heidelberg.edu)