The Impact of Road Salts on Groundwater and Estimation of the Chlorine Ions by Hydrogen Index

In this study, the influence of road salts on groundwater was investigated. The use of anti-ice reagents in winter requires certain precautions since the main chemical composition of the salts is chlorides. At the same time, the widely used sodium chloride does not form ion pairs in water, which means that it has a high migration ability and a weak sorption potential. In addition, the concentration of chloride salts in the components of the environment is so high (10-140 ppm). Therefore, the rapid assessment of the concentration of technogenic chlorine ion in water by pH is an urgent task. The average chemical composition of groundwater in Bishkek and its environs was considered, and the concentration of chlorine ions in water from 72 wells was determined. To develop the pattern of dispersion of chlorine ions, the thermodynamic modeling of the sodium chloride-water system was carried out at a minimum of Gibbs energy with a wide range of water temperature changes corresponding to the flow regime of cold groundwater. The concentration distribution of the components, charged particles, as well as the values of pH and Eh were determined. As a result, an empirical equation and a scheme for rapid assessment of the quantitative content of chlorine ions in water bodies were compiled.