black river talk - tug hill · •beaver brook (no roads) •

•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