Effects of Highway-Related Pollutant on the Groundwater Quality of Turfy Swamps in the Changbai Mountain Area

Transportation activities such as fuel consumption, vehicle wear and road deicing can detrimentally affect the groundwater quality of fragile roadside wetland environments including. Nineteen parameters (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, Cr, Ni, Hg, As, pH, TDS, Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Na(+), K(+), SO(4)(2−), Cl(−), HCO(3)(−), NO(3)(−) and F(−)) were determined in groundwater samples from turfy swamps impacted by highway traffic from Jiangyuan (JY), Longquan (LQ), and Huangsongdian (HSD). Our results indicate that the metals Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, the ions Na(+), K(+) and Cl(−) in groundwater were negatively affected by highway transportation, and the maximum affected distance of these pollutants varied from 15 to 100 m. The content of most of these pollutants in roadside groundwater decreased exponentially with the distance from the highway, as did the heavy metal pollution index HPI and C(d). The values of HPI and C(d) in these three sites ranged from 46.8 to 78.4 and −4.9 to −2.9, respectively. The low pollution levels of heavy metals are related to the strong adsorption capacity of turfy soil towards metals. In any case, road transport activities increased the Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cd, Na(+), K(+) and Cl(−) content in roadside groundwater in turfy swamp. With the increase of highway operation time, it will inevitably have a great influence on the groundwater quality of these wetlands. Therefore, the long-term monitoring is necessary to protect the sustainable development of turfy swamp.