CAREER: Novel Water Quality Monitors and Indicators of Salinization to Define SALTSCAPES

我们的湖泊和河流中的含盐量正在增加，这一过程被称为盐碱化。如果含盐量上升太多，我们就不能在不进行昂贵处理的情况下将水用于饮用或种植作物。湖泊和河流中的盐有许多来源，这使得很难找到和控制这些来源。该项目的目标是找到新的方法来识别盐污染的来源，使用传感器，以及淡水贻贝的外壳和湖泊和河流中的沉积物芯，以重建盐沉积的过去历史。公众将参与这项研究，在他们的后院溪流或最喜欢的捕鱼洞放置传感器，以帮助绘制流域盐的地图（SALTSCAPES）。使用天然同位素比率的先进化学分析将用于确定盐的来源。社区将有权使用这些结果来规划最佳解决方案，以减少进入流域的盐。该项目的成功实施将有助于节省水处理的资金，为我们的社区提供更清洁的饮用水，并保护生态系统免受过度盐碱化的影响。 淡水资源盐碱化是一个全球性环境问题，它降低了水质和对水生生境的生态系统服务。在淡水湖泊和河流中观察到的氯化物浓度增加的长期趋势可能对公共供水基础设施的腐蚀控制产生有害影响，并对淡水生物群产生毒性。淡水盐碱化有多种来源，如从底层地质构造迁移、碳酸盐岩溶解、道路盐径流和其他运输来源，以及工业排放和水力压裂。许多这些来源产生独特的同位素比率，可用于确定其来源。目前，采样在空间和时间上都过于稀疏，无法评估盐碱化影响或识别点源。此外，这些数据不足以反映与评估有关的地点的重要长期趋势。拟议研究的目标是利用新方法记录沉积物芯、淡水贻贝壳和开源水质计网络中的水质，以表征盐碱化的长期影响。实现这一目标的具体目标是：1）通过开发新的水质指标来量化盐渍化的来源，2）展示这些工具在长期水质评估中的实用性，3）确定潜在的缓解策略，以及4）加强对学生，教师和公众的水质教育。将对沉积物芯和贻贝壳进行年龄测定，并用于测量主要和微量元素（例如，Cl、Br、Sr、Ba）和同位素比率（例如，87 Sr/86 Sr、11 B/10 B和226 Ra/228 Ra）。结合起来，这些测量提供了独特的化学签名的各个来源的盐度，并可用于创建跨流域的盐度地图（SALTSCAPES）。这种量化将使人们能够更深入地了解与盐碱化相关的风险，以及通过保护人类和环境健康的工程、管理和基于政策的解决方案来缓解风险的潜力。这一方法将使人们更好地了解各个流域内的盐碱化来源。这些结果将允许表征的空间和时间分辨率的盐碱化，生物影响，和长期的盐碱化趋势。结合起来，这个项目将改变我们收集水质数据的方式，并确定排放到流域的污染物的来源，命运和生物积累。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Salt levels in our lakes and rivers are increasing in a process called salinization. If salt levels rise too much we cannot use the water for drinking or growing crops without costly treatment. There are many sources of salt to lakes and rivers which makes it difficult to find and control the sources. The goal of this project is to find new ways to identify the source of salt pollution using sensors, as well as the shells of freshwater mussels and sediment cores in lakes and rivers to reconstruct the past history of salt deposition. Members of the public will be engaged in this research by placing sensors in their backyard stream or favorite fishing hole to help make maps of salt in the watershed (SALTSCAPES). Advanced chemical analysis using natural isotope ratios will be used to fingerprint the source of the salt. Communities will be empowered to use these results to plan the best solutions to reduce the salt entering the watershed. Successful implementation of this project will help save money for water treatment, provide cleaner drinking water to our communities, and protect the ecosystem from the impacts of excessive salinization. Salinization of freshwater resources is a global environmental problem that degrades water quality and ecosystem services to aquatic habitats. The long-term trends of increasing chloride concentrations observed in both freshwater lakes and rivers can have deleterious effects on corrosion control of public water infrastructure and toxicity to freshwater biota. There are multiple sources of salinization of freshwater such as migration from underlying geologic formations, dissolution of evaporites, road salt runoff and other transportation sources, as well as industrial emissions and hydraulic fracturing. Many of these sources generate unique isotopic ratios that can be used to identify their sources. Currently, sampling is too sparse both spatially and temporally to assess salinization impacts or identify point sources. In addition, these data are not adequate to capture important long-term trends in locations relevant for assessment. The goal of the proposed research is to utilize novel methods to record water quality in sediment cores, freshwater mussel shells, and a network of open source water quality meters to characterize the long-term impacts of salinization. The specific objectives to achieve this goal are to 1) quantify sources of salinization through the development of novel indicators of water quality, 2) demonstrate the utility of these tools for long-term assessments of water quality, 3) identify potential mitigation strategies, and 4) enhance water-quality education for students, teachers, and the public. Sediment cores and mussel shells will be age-dated and used to measure major and trace elements (e.g., Cl, Br, Sr, Ba), and isotopic ratios (e.g., 87Sr/86Sr, 11B/10B, and 226Ra/228Ra). Combined, these measurements provide unique chemical signatures of individual sources of salinity and can be used to create maps of salinity across watersheds (SALTSCAPES). This quantification will enable greater insight to the risks associated with salinization as well as the potential for mitigation through engineering, management, and policy-based solutions that protect both human and environmental health. The approach will lead to greater understanding of salinization sources within individual watersheds. These results will allow characterization of the spatial and temporal resolution of salinization, the biological impacts, and long-term salinization trends. Combined, this project will transform both the way we collect water quality data and identify sources, fate, and bioaccumulation of contaminants discharged to watersheds.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.