Fall Salt-Pollution Stream Snapshot
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Fall Salt-Pollution Stream Snapshot
October 15 – October 18 EDT
Want to Get Involved in Community Science?
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A salt-pollution snapshot provides a unique, hands-on opportunity to generate data illustrating that road salt contaminates our watersheds year-round. This data will help start local conversations and shine a public spotlight on this critical water quality issue. The level of road salt contamination highly depends on how much road salt private applicators and municipalities use and how they handle it. Local data are vital to the conversation.
Get Involved
The target sampling date is Thursday, October 15, and the priority date range is Thursday, October 15 through Sunday, October 18, weather permitting.
Collect all samples during baseflow conditions, when water levels are stable and not influenced by storm runoff. All participants should use 1- to 10-day forecasts to ensure they collect baseflow samples (baseflow = a stream’s resting state, fed mostly by groundwater rather than storm runoff). For a baseflow sample, no significant rain (~0.25 inches or more) should fall in the 48 hours before sample collection. Significant rainfall will require sampling outside the target October 15–18 range.
(If you’re working as a group, please have your leader register.)
(Request chloride test strips and conductivity meters after you’ve figured out what you’ll need.)
(For sample drop-off, to encourage participation, and to share on social media).
Instructions and Resources
Use the technical guidance, online data sheet, and online map throughout your site selection, planning, sampling, and analysis process.
- Snapshot guidance document.
- Online data sheet.
- Online Salt Pollution Snapshot Data Map. For past salt snapshots, click the Map Layers icon in the map menu, then check the boxes to enable layers.
- Registration and supply request status check.
Questions? Please contact Community Science Facilitator David Bressler at dbressler@stroudcenter.org.
Public Participation
The organizations listed below will accept water samples from the general public for analysis and posting to the Salt Pollution Snapshot Data Map.
| Organization | Samples Accepted | Location | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brandywine Red Clay Alliance | October 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Rain date: October 16) | 1760 Unionville-Wawaset Road, West Chester, PA 19382 | Registration form |
| Chester/Delaware County Master Watershed Stewards and Stroud Water Research Center | October 15 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. | West Chester Borough Hall, 401 E. Gay Street, West Chester, PA 19380 | j_debes@msn.com |
| Patagonia Main Line | October 15–17 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and October 18 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 61 Anderson Avenue, Ardmore, PA 19003 | Instructions |
| Foodshed Alliance | October 15 and 16, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day. | Memory Park, Newton, NJ 07860 | Registration form |
| Montgomery County Master Watershed Stewards | October 16 from 3 to 6:30 p.m. | 1015 Bridge Road, Collegeville, PA 19426 | frankgen6@gmail.com |
| Bucks County Master Watershed Stewards | October 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. | 576 Penns Park Road, Newtown, PA 18940 | jwalter881@verizon.net |
| Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust (PERT) | October 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. | BLBB classroom, rear/lower level of PERT’s main office, 2955 Edge Hill Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA | kroth@pennypacktrust.org OR ryan@ttfwatershed.org |
| Delaware Master Naturalists | October 18 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Brown Horticulture Learning Center at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, 5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, DE 19735 | Registration form |
| Stroud Water Research Center and Chesapeake Bay Foundation | October 19 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. | The Rotunda at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Complex, Harrisburg, PA 17120 | Instructions |