There are 2.6 million miles of paved roads in the United States, and new roads are being constructed daily. When parking lots and driveways are factored in, there is already enough blacktopped surface in the U.S. to cover the entire state of Ohio. Paved roads and parking spaces come in handy for our nation's drivers, but they also come with a serious unforeseen cost-- the degradation of freshwater ecosystems.

In a recent Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper, Drs. Sujay S. Kaushal, Peter M. Groffman, and Gene E. Likens of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, with colleagues, detail how roadways and deicers are compromising the health of northeastern waters, making them inhospitable to wildlife and compromising drinking water supplies. Their insights were made possible by long-term data recorded by the Institute of Ecosystem Studies, the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study, the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the City of Baltimore.

By looking at records of chloride concentration in a range of northeastern waterways-- from urban and suburban sources in New York's Hudson Valley and Baltimore County, Maryland to rural streams in the White Mountains of New Hampshire-- the researchers concluded that freshwater salinity has been increasing at an alarming rate over the past 30 years. In the Baltimore study area, there was a strong relationship between impervious surface coverage (i.e. roads and parking lots) and chloride concentration. Road salt was cited as an important source of chloride pollution.

Dr. Kaushal, a Post Doctoral Associate at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies when the research was conducted, comments, "There is a direct connection between the construction of new roadways and parking lots and the quality of our freshwater. In particular, we haven't paid attention to how rapid changes in human development and deicer use impact the watersheds that supply our region's drinking water." Adding that, "W
'"/>

Contact: Lori M. Quillen
quillenl@ecostudies.org
845-677-7600 x321
Institute of Ecosystem Studies
5-Sep-2005

Page: 1 2
Related biology news :

1. Global warming capable of sparking mass species extinctions
2. Study finds parking lot sealcoat may be major source of PAHs
3. UF to lead research on life-threatening fungus
4. Smithsonians National Zoo researchers use electronic eggs to help save threatened species
5. Smithsonian Fragmentation Project threatened by Amazon Colonization Plan
6. Satellite images show destroyed and threatened villages in Darfur
7. UCR biologist receives $1.75 million grant to study plant-threatening bacteria
8. Land conversion and climate threaten land birds
9. Climate change threatens wild relatives of key crops
10. DNA analysis suggests under-reported kills of threatened whales
11. 20 of worlds 162 grouper species threatened with extinction