There are many ongoing research projects at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) Stormwater Center and the University of Minnesota (UMN) Stormwater Research Program. These are augmented by two new research projects at the Cold Climate Stormwater Center of Excellence (CCSCoE): New Media for Bioretention Practices and Source Control of Road Salts.
New Media for Bioretention Practices: Research shows that most composts in bioretention practices will release nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), which can exacerbate nutrient impairments and cause harmful algal blooms in receiving waters. In cold climates, nutrient release from organic matter can be exacerbated by road salt applications (sodium chloride) and other deicing chemicals. The CCSCoE team will investigate a range of innovative bioretention soil media that can retain water and support plant and microbial growth, culminating in a set of cost-efficient bioretention media optimal for cold climates, and ultimately protecting public safety and water quality by reducing pollution and harmful algal blooms.
Source Control of Road Salts: The New Hampshire Certified Green Snow Pro Program is a first-in-the-nation certification program that helps substantially reduce wintertime road salt (e.g., sodium chloride) applications, improve water quality, and provide valuable liability protection to local New Hampshire private and municipal applicators. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a similar initiative called the Smart Salting Program that trains and certifies public and private salt applicators in proper techniques and available technology. A new research project will quantify the successes of these education and certification programs. Resulting measurements will be used to estimate the cost of establishing and maintaining similar programs in other cold climate states and jurisdictions. Project results could also be utilized by managers to evaluate, improve, or justify salt reduction programs and expenditures.
Rapid Response Projects: The CCSCoE has the capacity for rapid response research projects to address emerging high priority needs identified by the multi-state Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). Rapid response research projects may include a research synthesis, exploratory research, or larger scale projects depending on cold climate communities’ needs and priorities.
