Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection
Team
Nicholas Pataky, Nicholas Gigliotti, Zachary Robbins, Shawn Wile
2015
Keywords
Water Resources, Clean Water and Sanitation
Nearly 500,000 tons of road salt are used each year on Massachusetts roadways. Runoff from these roads deposits salt in public groundwater sources, which poses human, environmental, and structural health risks. The goal of this project was to establish a framework that prioritizes opportunities to address risk-causing factors of salt contamination in groundwater drinking sources. We observed statewide trends in salt contamination, determined factors that contribute to salt contamination of groundwater, created a risk-assessment tool for use by municipalities, and drafted an informative fact sheet for public release. We also proposed recommendations to the MA Department of Environmental Protection for future work to identify and protect groundwater sources at risk of salt contamination.