Purity of On-Campus Road Salts at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Mentor 1

Charles Paradis

Start Date

10-5-2022 10:00 AM

Description

Massive quantities of road salts are applied to roads every year and eventually are incorporated into runoff that may affect the quality of surface water and groundwater. The purity of road salt is a concern due to unwanted contaminants that can find their way into water bodies that are used for wildlife, recreation, and drinking sources. Toxic road-salt derived impurities like radium have been found accumulating in surface water and groundwater in midwestern cities such as Flint, Michigan; this problem demands investigation in other cities that rely on salts to de-ice winter roads. Road salt will be collected on the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee’s main campus. Specifically, two samples per quadrant of the square-shaped campus will be collected. The samples will be analyzed for total dissolved solids, sodium, and chloride to determine their percent purity; 100% purity being entirely comprised of sodium chloride. It is hypothesized that the percent purity will be greater than 90% and that the remaining 10% impurity is predominantly potassium. If the percent impurity is greater than 10% or if potassium cannot account for most of the impurity, a full suite of metals analyses will be conducted; this will include radium. The results of this study will be presented and the hypothesis will be tested based on straight-forward data and data interpretation. The results of this study will determine the purity of on-campus road salts and assess whether contamination from impurities is a potential problem for the waters of Milwaukee.

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May 10th, 10:00 AM

Purity of On-Campus Road Salts at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Massive quantities of road salts are applied to roads every year and eventually are incorporated into runoff that may affect the quality of surface water and groundwater. The purity of road salt is a concern due to unwanted contaminants that can find their way into water bodies that are used for wildlife, recreation, and drinking sources. Toxic road-salt derived impurities like radium have been found accumulating in surface water and groundwater in midwestern cities such as Flint, Michigan; this problem demands investigation in other cities that rely on salts to de-ice winter roads. Road salt will be collected on the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee’s main campus. Specifically, two samples per quadrant of the square-shaped campus will be collected. The samples will be analyzed for total dissolved solids, sodium, and chloride to determine their percent purity; 100% purity being entirely comprised of sodium chloride. It is hypothesized that the percent purity will be greater than 90% and that the remaining 10% impurity is predominantly potassium. If the percent impurity is greater than 10% or if potassium cannot account for most of the impurity, a full suite of metals analyses will be conducted; this will include radium. The results of this study will be presented and the hypothesis will be tested based on straight-forward data and data interpretation. The results of this study will determine the purity of on-campus road salts and assess whether contamination from impurities is a potential problem for the waters of Milwaukee.