THE EFFECTS OF DEICING CHEMICALS ON THE AQUEOUS CHEMISTRY OF BIG SPRING, HARRISONBURG, VA

Big Spring is a continuously flowing spring in downtown Harrisonburg, VA, and is of local historical importance dating to before the Civil War. Big Spring has been maintained and frequently improved since 1779 when Tomas Harrison deeded the spring and other property to support a courthouse and jail for Rockingham County. In 1995 a large gazebo was built to house Big Spring and allow locals and tourists to be aware of its history and significance.

Like other urban springs, common anthropogenic practices (such as deicing solutions in winter months) are believed to be impairing the water chemistry of Big Spring. These materials (eg. NaCl and CaCl) are known to adversely impact aquatic life by introducing amounts of metals and chloride to the water that have a negative ecologic impact. This research is focused on examining the extent to which Big Spring and outflow water is impacted by these practices.

Prior work has established that continuously recorded specific conductivity (SpC) of Big Spring spikes sharply within several hours of winter snow events. To further quantify these effects additional continuously recorded SpC and temperature probes have been placed up and down stream of Big Spring’s output. An ISCO auto sampler has also been stationed at the spring’s head to continuously collect samples to be run for major inorganic ionic constituents. To date, data show that following a rain event we observe a sharp increase in Ca²⁺ and SpC (likely a flushing event) followed by a longer duration recession limb. However, Na⁺ does not show the this response during the same time intervals. We anticipate being able to compare how these dissolved inorganic constituents behave during typical rain and snow events and ultimately evaluate the unique chemical changes to Big Spring water chemistry following snow/ice events due to deicing activity on the roads in downtown Harrisonburg, VA.