Principal Investigator
- John Gulliver, Professor Emeritus, Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering
Co-Investigators
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John Nieber, Professor, Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
Summary
This project is about finding solutions to the chloride groundwater-to-surface water pollution caused by excessive use of road salt. Groundwater resources are affected in different degrees by chloride leached with recharge water. First, the amount of leaching depends on the type of soil at the ground surface. For instance, clays will leach less than sands. Second, the amount of groundwater discharging to surface waters varies depending on the aquifer conditions and the connection to the surface water. Third, aquifers are complex, multilayered geological features and deeper aquifers are less likely to be impacted by chloride than shallow aquifers. So, the fraction of discharge to surface waters that occurs from the different aquifer layers will affect the amount of chloride that enters the surface waters with the discharging groundwater. The combination of all of these considerations requires research to determine where chloride groundwater pollution of surface water is more and less likely, so that it is possible to focus source reduction on the potential hot spots within Minnesota.