Monitoring of The Impact of Road Salting On Spruce Forest Ecosystem In The Vicinity of The Highway D1 In The Bohemian-Moravian Highlands, Czech Republic

Monitoring of pollution in the vicinity of roads connected to winter road maintenance is one of the important tools for optimising winter maintenance technology and reducing its environmental impact. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between winter road maintenance and the increased concentration of sodium ion to characterize the harm caused by the de-icing agents on selected types of individual components grown in the Norway Spruce ecosystem. The model area is located in the immediate vicinity of the D1 motorway connecting Prague and Brno (Czech Republic), at 103rd kilometer. The area is thus exposed to long-term contamination from automobile transport and the monitoring was carried out for three consecutive years. A clear effect of the de-icing agents on conifers near the road has been demonstrated by the symptoms of salt damage visually observed in close proximity to the road (at a sampling distance of 5 m). The needles of these spruce trees also showed increased sodium concentrations, regardless of the age of the needles. The study also confirms that sodium accumulates in all selected components of the analysed ecosystem (moos, humus, soil). The sodium concentration has been found to decrease with increasing distance from the road for all of the components.

Analyses of Spatial and Temporal Variations of Salt Concentration in Waterbodies Based on High Resolution Measurements Using Sensors

Studies have shown that salt concentrations are increasing in waterbodies such as lakes, rivers, wetlands, and streams in areas where deicers are commonly applied for winter road maintenance, resulting in degraded water quality. As the salt concentration varies spatially and temporally based on environmental and hydrological characteristics, we monitored high resolution (15 min) salt concentrations for a relatively long period (winter and spring season) at different sites (i.e., stream, urban-stream, roadside drain, and parking-lot drain) using multiple electric conductivity-based sensors. The salt concentrations were significantly different from each other considering individual sensors and different sites in both winter and spring seasons, which support past research results that concentration varies spatially. Parking-lot (1136 ± 674 ppm) and Roadside (701 ± 263 ppm) drain measured significantly higher concentration than for Stream (260 ± 60 ppm) and Urban-stream (562 ± 266 ppm) in the winter season. Similar trends were observed for the spring season, however, the mean concentrations were lower in the spring. Furthermore, salt concentrations were significantly higher during the winter (242 ± 47 ppm to 1695 ± 629 ppm) than for the spring (140 ± 23 ppm to 863 ± 440 ppm) season considering different sites, which have been attributed to the winter snow maintenance practice using deicers in past studies. All sites exceed the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) threshold (salt concentration higher than 230 mg/L) for chronic exposure level for 59% to 94% and 10% to 83% of days in winter and spring seasons, respectively. The study has highlighted the usefulness and advantages of high resolution (spatially and temporally) salt concentration measurement using sensor technology. Furthermore, the salt concentration in waterbodies can vary spatially and temporally within a small spatial scale, which may be important information for managing water quality locally. The high resolution measurements (i.e., 15 min) were helpful to capture the highest potential salt concentrations in the waterbody. Therefore, the sensor technology can help to measure high resolution salt concentrations, which can be used to quantify impacts of high salt concentrations, e.g., application of deicer for winter road maintenance on aquatic systems based on the criteria developed by USEPA.

MODELING THE SNOW DEPOSIT PROCESS ON THE HIGHWAYS IN THE FLOWVISION

Statement of the problem. The problems of snow deposit modeling on the highways with crash barriers during blizzards in the FlowVision. Results. The highway section passing in the embankment as an experimental section has been considered. The geometric model of the highway section was created. The information resources for creating a hydrodynamic model of snowflow stream of highway embankment with barrier barriers during blizzard were identified. The modeling of the snow deposit process in the experimental section using the FlowVision during blizzards with different parameters was carried out. Conclusions. It was concluded that it is possible to use the FlowVision to improve the methodology for snow protection designing and determining of snow removal parameters for winter road maintenance.