Conclusions: Chloride

The chloride levels in the waters of New Island were generally consistent.  There was little variation between wetland and river samples.  If anything, the river samples tend to be slightly higher.  This might be typical during winter months when lots of road salts are used.  Road salt, or sodium chloride breaks down to its ionic form in water so what we are testing for is chloride ion.  However, this winter there was little snowfall and little road salts used.  Because chloride levels less than 140 ppm are generally safe for most plants and levels less than 20 ppm are safe even or chloride sensitive plants, these levels would tend to be healthy for the plant life on New Island.