In January, groups across the U.S. and Canada held discussions to raise awareness about the dangers of and solutions to road salt pollution during Winter Salt Awareness Week. Abby Hileman, the League’s Salt Watch coordinator, kicked off webinars watched by more than 1,000 people, and the League collaborated with a wide array of government and nonprofit groups.

While salt keeps our roads safe during icy weather, using more than needed comes at a steep price to our waterways, infrastructure and drinking water. Winter salt runs off the roads and becomes a permanent pollutant in our soils and waterways. There is no feasible way to remove salt once it enters the environment.

Yet private and government efforts to treat ice mean that between 20 and 30 million tons of road salt are spread on sidewalks, roadways and parking lots each year in the U.S. High levels of chloride, a component of road salt, pose health hazards to humans and aquatic life. And road salt corrodes structures and property including bridges, drinking water pipes and vehicles.

To monitor this problem, the League’s Salt Watch program has collected more than 3,600 test results so far this winter from local waterways and tap water. Of results submitted, 14 percent showed salt levels in the poor range (100-230 parts per million, which is above naturally occurring levels) while another 14 percent fell into the toxic range (230- plus ppm, levels that are toxic for freshwater aquatic life).

Open house at League headquarters

On January 31, the League hosted a public event to raise awareness around the issue of road salt pollution with partner organizations including Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, Rock Creek Conservancy, Nature Forward, Northern Virginia Regional Commission, Maryland Department of the Environment, WSSC Water, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake and the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

At the event, League Executive Director Scott Kovarovics noted that elevated chloride levels have a corrosive effect on the estimated 10 million lead drinking water lines serving American homes, schools and businesses. “There is no safe level of lead consumption for any person—not just children, anyone. And for people on low- or no-sodium diets, few, if any, think about drinking water as a source of sodium.”

Kovarovics said an informed public can support adoption of best practices in ice control and advocate for the protection of freshwater resources.

During the event, Abby Hileman took the attendees out to test chloride levels in Muddy Branch—a local waterway that drains into the Potomac River.

Winter Salt Awareness Week: 16 events, 7 states

A series of webinars and events were held during the week. For example, Ted Diers of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, Cara Hardesty of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and Bryan Gruidl from Bloomington, Minnesota, spoke about policy solutions that have been enacted to address various facets of the problem. Friday was a “Local Salt Monitoring” day with at least 16 events in seven states (Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).

Learn more about Salt Watch

Top photo: Scott Kovarovics talks about the League's work to reduce chloride pollution. City of Gaithersburg, Md. employees who work on snow removal and salt application (in yellow overcoats) were among the Salt Awareness Week participants. Credit: Michael Reinemer.