Melting the snow on roads with salt is causing problems for aquatic and land organisms — here’s how we can fix it.
, the cheapest and most common type of road salt. The latter two species weren’t even found in ponds with high salt concentrations, those researchers reported.
Some of these wells, they found, had high enough concentrations to exceed the limits of people with salt-restricted diets. Since people weren’t even likely aware of this extra source of salt in their diets from drinking water, it could be even leading to heart problems. But overcoming the road salt problem is still relatively easy, Relyea says, when compared to widespread problems affecting wildlife such as climate change and habitat loss. One solution that Relyea likes to point to involves subtle changes to snowplows that improve their effectiveness at removing ice in the first place. Most snow plows have flat blades whereas most roads actually are built with a small curve to them that keeps water from pooling on the lanes during rainfall in the summer.
Other potential solutions involve towns properly protecting their stockpiles of road salt from running off into the surrounding environment. Some towns in New York also pre-wet pavement with a salty brine several hours before predicted snowfall. This treatment makes snow easier to remove afterward and decreases the need for salt.
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