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  2. Risk Assessment

Salt: Research

On this page:

  • Salt Home
  • Salt: Resources
  • Salt: Research

Salt on sidewalk
Research to reduce salt (chloride) in surface and groundwaters is vast. Research on salt-free water softeners, winter maintenance best management practices, the impact of salt on aquatic toxicity, the economic impact of salt on infrastructure, and the interaction of salt and heavy metals are a few of the many study areas. Below are a few of the highlights.
 
  • EPA Research on Freshwater Salinization Syndrome
  • Drinking Water and Groundwater
  • Salt in the Environment
  • Source Reduction

EPA Research on Freshwater Salinization Syndrome

  • Effects of Road Salts on Groundwater and Surface Water Dynamics of Sodium and Chloride in an Urban Restored Stream
  • Sensors Track ‘Chemical Cocktails’ in Streams Impacted by Road Salts in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
  • Five State Factors Control Progressive Stages of Freshwater Salinization Syndrome
  • Freshwater Salinization Syndrome Alters Retention and Release of ‘Chemical Cocktails’ Along Flowpaths: from Stormwater Management to Urban Streams
  • Human-Accelerated Weathering Increases Salinization, Major Ions, and Alkalinization in Fresh Water Across Land Use
  • Making ‘Chemical Cocktails’ – Evolution of Urban Geochemical Processes Across the Periodic Table of Elements
  • Watershed ‘Chemical Cocktails’: Forming Novel Elemental Combinations in Anthropocene Fresh Waters

Drinking Water and Groundwater

  • Elevated Blood Lead Levels in Children Associated With the Flint Drinking Water Crisis: A Spatial Analysis of Risk and Public Health Response
  • Health Cost of Salinity Contamination in Drinking Water: Evidence from Bangladesh
  • Chloride-to-Sulfate Mass Ratio and Lead Leaching to Water
  • Assessing the Lead Solubility Potential of Untreated Groundwater of the United States
  • Review of Implications of Road Salt Use on Groundwater Quality—Corrosivity and Mobilization of Heavy Metals and Radionuclides
  • Mobilization of Radium and Radon by Deicing Salt Contamination of Groundwater
  • Impact of Road Salt on Drinking Water Quality and Infrastructure Corrosion in Private Wells
  • Increasing Chloride in Rivers of the Conterminous U.S. and Linkages to Potential Corrosivity and Lead Action Level Exceedances in Drinking Water
  • Potential Corrosivity of Untreated Groundwater in the United States
  • Groundwater Chloride Concentrations in Domestic Wells and Proximity to Roadways in Vermont, 2011–2018

Salt in the Environment

  • Freshwater Salinization Syndrome on a Continental Scale
  • A Review of the Combined Threats of Road Salts and Heavy Metals to Freshwater Systems
  • Saltwater Intrusion Affects Nutrient Concentrations in Soil Porewater and Surface Waters of Coastal Habitats
  • Salinity Increases the Mobility of Cd, Cu, Mn, and Pb in the Sediments of Yangtze Estuary: Relative Role of Sediments’ Properties and Metal Speciation
  • Chloride Contributions from Water Softeners and Other Domestic, Commercial, Industrial, and Agricultural Sources to Minnesota Waters
  • Salinity Increases Mobility of Heavy Metals in Soils
  • Mobilisation of Heavy Metals by Deicing Salts in a Roadside Environment
  • Freshwater Salinization Syndrome: From Emerging Global Problem to Managing Risks
  • Salinization Triggers a Trophic Cascade in Experimental Freshwater Communities with Varying Food-Chain Length
  • Methods for Evaluating Potential Sources of Chloride in Surface Waters and Groundwaters of the Conterminous United States

Source Reduction

  • Proteolysis During Cheese Manufacture and Ripening
  • An Economic Assessment of the Social Costs of Highway Salting and the Efficiency of Substituting a New Deicing Material
  • Review Removal of Chloride from Water and Wastewater

Risk Assessment

  • About Risk Assessment
  • Human Health Risk Assessment
    • Conducting a Human Health Risk Assessment
    • Human Health Risk Models and Tools
  • Ecological Risk Assessment
    • Conducting an Ecological Risk Assessment
    • Ecological Risk Models and Tools
  • Risk Assessment Guidance
  • Risk Tools and Databases
    • Regional Screening Levels (RSLs)
    • Regional Removal Management Levels for Chemicals (RMLs)
  • Superfund Risk Assessment
    • Superfund Human Health Risk Topics
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS): Part A
      • Supplement to RAGS Part A: Community Involvement in Superfund Risk Assessments (1999)
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS) Volume III: Part A
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS): Part B
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS) Part C
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS): Part D
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS): Part E
      • Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund (RAGS): Part F
    • Superfund Ecological Risk Topics
      • Ecological Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund
      • Ecological Soil Screening Level (Eco-SSL) Guidance and Documents
    • Additional Superfund Risk Topics
      • Regional Screening Levels (RSLs)
      • Regional Removal Management Levels for Chemicals (RMLs)
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Contact Us About Risk Assessment
Contact Us to ask a question, provide feedback, or report a problem.
Last updated on April 23, 2025
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