ST. LOUIS — FOX 2 covered a story not too long ago with the Illinois River Watch about one of their special projects, chloride monitoring. Rock salt is commonly spread on the roads during the winter months to prevent the buildup of snow or the freezing of ice.
That salt then gets washed into the storm drains and eventually ends up in streams and rivers, increasing the sodium chloride levels in local waterways.
Danelle Haake, Riverwatch Director and Stream Ecologist, says they’ve had over 200 volunteers across Illinois collecting water samples this winter.
“Most of those sites we do find that during the winter we have an increase in the amount of salt making it into our waterways. Which is not uncommon,” said Haake. “But we did have one location where the volunteer, on multiple occasions, found salt that’s considered dangerous to aquatic life.”
That location was just outside Belleville, Illinois.
The goal of this project is to spread awareness about moderating the use of salt during winter storms.
After collecting a water sample, test strips are used for measurement and a game of waiting takes place. Only about 5 or 10 minutes. Until the line at the top changes to a dark color, that’s when you know the test is conclusive.
The strip changes from an orange color to white, representing the amount of chloride. In this pond in particular, after only 5 minutes, we measured well over 200 mg per liter. A reading over 600 mg/liter is considered unsafe for the environment.
“We also send the data to the state, so they know where we’re finding hot spots and hopefully down the road, they’ll be able to use that to target their own sampling and find out where the problems are more specifically and take corrective action,” said Haake.
Haake explains what happens to aquatic life here in Illinois and Missouri if too much salt is found in the area.
“What it will mostly do is slow down their growth rate and reproduction rate. These aquatic invertebrates are the food for the fish and the birds that rely on that part of the ecosystem for their food,” said Haake. “So when the food is smaller and there’s not as much of it, it will decrease the health of the fish and bird population as well.”
The results of their chloride tests areawide are available for the public to view.
