EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE MIGRATION OF ANTI-ICING MATERIALS INTO THE WATER

Abstract

Introduction. The anti-icing materials (hereinafter - PGM), the use of which is necessary to ensure safety on the roads, enter into the soil during snow melting. In addition to the direct impact on human health, the use of PGM can affect it indirectly, worsening the state of environmental objects, including the state of the soil. According to the literature, the regular use of PGM along roads leads to the formation of man-made soil anomalies of high salt content, distributed along with the vertical and horizontal profiles. The high salt content causes an increase in the migration capacity of accompanying pollutants - heavy metals, translating them into mobile forms. The study of migration processes of toxicants is one of the hygienically significant tasks of regulation. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the total load of anti-icing materials on the soil. Material and methods. The effect of the solid PGM of the nitrate group, which consists of (NН2)2СO, Mg(NO3)2 and NH4NO3, was studied with varying degrees of stress on the upper root zone of sod-podzolic and urban soils to establish their absorptive capacity and salt migration to the underlying horizons in model experiment. Results. A significant amount of calcium cations (Ca2+) was established to be contained in aqueous filtrates as compared with the control. The process of calcium leaching occurs most intensively in the anthropogenically transformed urban soil, which is more susceptible to de-icing. Thus, it can be concluded the zonal (sod-podzolic) soil to have a greater accumulating capacity for the PGM components and low buffering activity in comparison with urban soil. Considering the specific features of soil processes under the influence of the PGM components, there is a danger of secondary pollution of groundwater. In this regard, the soil quality monitoring system should take into account an integrated approach, and preventive measures for the improvement of urban soil need to be planned, providing for the inevitability of the use of GMP in the winter to ensure road safety.