INVESTIGATION AND IMPLICATIONS OF ROAD SALT RUN OFF INTO LAKE WILLIAMS, MARLBOROUGH MA

The study conducted tested soils around Lake Williams in Marlborough, MA for road salt runoff and potential hazards of cadmium, petroleum that is also associated with road runoff. The results could be correlated to Route 20 and a state highway yards away from the lake which is heavily salted during the winter season. A two foot core sample was taken as were ten soil samples from areas that were varied in proximity from the highways. The samples were tested for salinity by electro conductivity and silver nitrate extraction. Salination can be caused by natural processes such as mineral weathering or the gradual withdrawal of a body of water so some samples were collected away from the road as a control. Main causes of salination are artificial processes such as irrigation. Though the salt runoff doesn’t pose a huge threat to the surrounding soil and water, voluntarily checking the salt contamination on the soil of the surrounding area can be highly beneficial to correlate potential hazards such as cadmium and petroleum runoff that damage the infrastructure, lessen water quality, cause sedimentation problems, and erode the soil. The next step of this study is to test for petroleum and cadmium to determine if the public drinking reservoir has been contaminated from the road runoff.