ADEQ is treating soil along I-10 in Pinal County to reduce dust storm risk
With the threat of monsoon storms growing, one state agency wants to cut back on the risk of blowing dust and the dust storms that can blind drivers on Arizona's interstates.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality will treat 98 acres of bare soil along Interstate 10 in Pinal County, trying to counter the effects of hot, dry weather conditions that can loosen the soil and leave it exposed to storm winds.
ADEQ is applying PineBind, a soil stabilizer, to tracts of open or disturbed desert. The agency selected the areas to be treated by looking at the origins and paths of previous dust storms, then visited the sites near the freeway and consulted with partnering agencies about areas of concern.
The agency settled on these parcels of land because they would be most effectively targeted to counter "shallow dust storms." Daniel Czecholinski, the acting air quality division director for the department, had a hand in the selection process.
Czecholinski said while the shallow storms that may originate in the treated areas are not as large or dramatic as the ones that get the most attention, they can still blind drivers in an instant.
"These smaller dust storms are just as dangerous for drivers as the massive walls of dust created from extreme winds originating from powerful monsoonal thunderstorms,” Czecholinski said.
"By targeting our treatment to open desert near the highway, we could potentially reduce the threat for people living and traveling in the area."
The targeted areas are scattered throughout the I-10 corridor near Picacho Peak, near mile markers 190, 214 and 220. That area is ground zero for many summer dust storms, sometimes called haboobs.
Storms often start around the I-10 Picacho Peak corridor or just a bit south, pick up fuel from the desert floor, across disturbed or barren lands, empty lots and uncultivated farmland, and grow larger. When the storms cross roads, visibility plummets and that can cause crashes.
Between 2010 and 2015, a total of 85 dust-related crashes, some fatal, occurred in a 2-mile section near this area, sometimes referred to as the "dust corridor."
A dust storm moved through the Phoenix area on July 10, 2018, bringing some rain with it. Rob Schumacher, Arizona Republic
Hoping to starve these dust storms of fuel, ADEQ is also funding a group of researchers from the University of Arizona aiming to find an effective, cheap and lasting solution that aids the agency's use of the soil stabilizer.
Over the next year, the team, headed by Dr. Joseph Blankinship of the university's soil, water and environmental science department, will study the effectiveness of different treatments on 3 acres of land.
One acre will be used as the control, one will be treated with the department's soil stabilizer and one will be treated with mulch. Blankinship's team has experimented with a few other dust mitigation techniques, but mulch, a mixture of clippings from native plants, usually tends to work the best and is usually cheaper and easier to make.
These techniques are needed because there aren't enough native plants on the empty plots of land and water doesn't absorb into the ground as much. Even if it does, that water breaks up the soil, which can blow away when water evaporates.
"Once soil structure in the desert is disturbed and plants disappear, it is difficult to reestablish landscapes resistant to erosion," Blankinship said.
"Helping to glue together and protect the soil in the short term with the application of soil stabilizer and mulch will likely reduce blowing dust but could also encourage long-term plant growth that will ultimately stabilize the soil naturally once again," he said. "The goal is to find the best way to do that."
The agency's announcement of these projects comes two years after a similar project using soil stabilizer on 56 acres of land in the same area. That soil, the agency said, remains intact and with "noticeable plant growth," and fares significantly better during storms.
Once these tests end, Blankinship will relay the results of the proof of concept to the agency, which will use that to decide how to best address the larger and looming issue of dust mitigation. In the meantime, the agency is encouraging people across the state and in certain communities to participate in voluntary programs to cut back on their small contribution to dust pollution.
Environmental coverage on azcentral.com and in The Arizona Republic is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. For more stories, visit environment.azcentral.com or follow OurGrandAZ on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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