Be a River Smart Salter This Winter!
- pomperaugriver
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
As temperatures drop, remember to be a River Smart Salter this season! That means shoveling before snow turns to ice, only using what you need, and remembering to sweep up what's left. It's that easy to protect the health of humans and aquatic life from the impacts of excessive road salt!
Keep reading to learn more about the impacts of road salt on our rivers and drinking water and what PRWC is doing to help...
What Chemicals Are Applied to Our Roads in the Winter?
In Connecticut, sodium chloride is the most common de-icing chemical applied to roads, either in the form of rock salt or dissolved in water as a brine solution. CT Dept. of Transportation uses a 23% sodium chloride brine solution, known as "salt brine", on all state-owned roads. Salt brines can be applied more evenly across roads, allowing for greater efficacy while using less salt overall. On local roads, rock salt is typically used. Rock salt application requires larger quantities of salt and is less precise, leading to areas of excess salt accumulation, as seen in the photo above. Other chloride-based chemicals (salts) that may be used for de-icing include calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, and potassium chloride. Non-chloride de-icing chemicals are less commonly applied to roads due to their higher cost and lower efficacy.
How Does Road Salt Impact Our Rivers and Drinking Water?
Impact on Aquatic Life:
Under the Clean Water Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set a surface water quality standard for chloride at 230 mg/L. Chloride levels greater than 230 mg/L in freshwater streams are toxic to aquatic life.
Impact on Terrestrial Plants:
Salt can strip the soil of nutrients that plants need to grow. The impacts of this can be observed in plants along roadways or streams that appear “burned”.
Impact on Humans:
When excess salt enters the drinking water supply, it can impact human health. While humans are less sensitive to salt than aquatic life, high levels of sodium chloride in drinking water can impact sensitive groups, such as those with high blood pressure, who must limit their daily sodium intake. High chloride concentrations can also cause your pipes to corrode, leaching harmful metals (like lead, copper, and manganese) into your household drinking water.
What Can I Do to Help?
What is PRWC Doing to Help?
As a partner of The Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) Salt Watch Program, Pomperaug River Watershed Coalition began its sodium chloride monitoring program in the winter of 2023-2024 to monitor the level of road salt pollution in the Pomperaug River Watershed. Between 5 and 8 sites are selected each season to test for road-salt contamination from November to March based on their proximity to impervious (paved) areas such as roads and parking lots. The data our staff and volunteers collect helps us identify where oversalting is occurring so we can advocate for more responsible salting or alternate salting practices (such as using a brine solution) in these areas to reduce impacts to aquatic and human health. Visit our Road Salt Monitoring page to learn more about our road salt sampling program, check our latest results, and find out how you can get involved!
