Students Assist in Winter Salt Stream Snapshot
Too much salt is not only bad for humans, it’s bad for our waterways. To bring awareness
of how road salt applied during winter weather events affects the ecosystems of local
streams and rivers, WCU biologist Dr. Megan Fork partnered with Stroud Water Research
Center to sample and test water collected locally. Results were evaluated and mapped
in real time during a stream snapshot event at West Chester Borough Hall on January
31. Data provide a picture of where excessive road salt runoff is going.
WCU students volunteered at Borough Hall alongside Stroud Center scientists and volunteers to collect samples from across the region brought in by fellow WCU students and the public. Dr. Fork explained that the volunteers used “chloride-specific test strips to determine the concentration of salt and conductivity.”
Dr. Martin Helmke, WCU professor of Earth and space science, guided students from his classes in sampling sites at Plum Run, which runs through South Campus and the University’s Gordon Natural Area (GNA), and Goose Creek, which runs mostly east of campus. Nur Ritter, GNA steward, also submitted samples from sites on and adjacent to campus.
Stroud Center scientists used the snapshot data in real time to produce a high-resolution map of salt concentrations in streams across the region. The data map is available at stroudcenter.org/salt.
“This event gives our students the opportunity to apply their environmental science skills and passions to protect streams, but also to network,” said Dr. Fork, who manages the University’s Aquatic Ecosystems Lab.
A freshwater ecologist who has a long-standing relationship with Stroud, Dr. Fork said the first salt snapshot she conducted with the organization was in January 2023. Dr. Fork is also a board member of the Goose Creek Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to the monitoring and rehabilitation of that creek.
Stroud will host a Winter Salt Stream Snapshot Wrap-Up on Wednesday, February 26, at 6 p.m. at the center at 970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA. A virtual option beginning at 6:30 p.m. will be available to those who register.
Learn more about WCU’s Department of Biology.
Click here for an interactive map of the salt stream snapshot data
Image courtesy of Stroud Water Research Center
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