Chloride Released from Three Permeable Pavement Surfaces after Winter Salt Application

Few studies exist on how chloride from chloride‐based deicers is transported in infiltration‐based stormwater control measures. In 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) constructed a 0.4 ha parking lot in Edison, New Jersey, that was surfaced with permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICP), pervious concrete (PC), and porous asphalt (PA). Each surface type has four equally sized, lined sections that direct all infiltrate to separate 5.7 m³ collection tanks. The USEPA acute criterion for aquatic life (860 mg/l) was exceeded in events immediately following a snow event. Concentrations of the infiltrate exceeded the detection limit (5 mg/l) year round but did not exceed the USEPA chronic toxicity (230 mg/l) after April. The chloride concentration decreased with cumulative rainfall since previous snow event, and a power regression described this relationship. In the power regression, the coefficient (b) described the initial concentration following a snow event, and the exponent (m) described the rate in which chloride was flushed through the system with infiltrating water. PC had the largest coefficient (5,664) and largest absolute exponent (?0.92), followed closely by PICP (b = 4,943 and m = ?0.87), and distantly by PA (b = 2,907 and m = ?0.67). The differences in release rate were proportional to the measured surface infiltration rates of 4,000; 2,400; and 200 cm/h for PC, PICP, and PA, respectively. These results will assist those who manage or regulate stormwater where receiving waters are chloride impaired.