Izaak Walton League of America

Salt is really powerful when it comes to preventing ice from forming – all you need for a 20-foot driveway is ONE mugful (12 oz) of road salt.

You do not have to feel "the crunch" for salt to do its job. Salt lowers the freezing temperature of water so snow and ice can be more easily removed. Putting more salt on a surface does not make snow and ice melt faster or eliminate the need for plowing or shoveling.

Watch out for deicers labeled as "eco-friendly" or "pet-friendly"! Read the package more closely: If there is chloride in the product (sodium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, etc.), it is still a salt!

Write a Letter to the Editor

Start with our template and adapt it for educating YOUR community about the need to reduce salt use!

Looking for guidance on submitting an LTE? Check out the LTE & Op-Ed Guide.

Hand Out Flyers

• Flyer to educate neighbors (Spanish version)
• Flyer to inform local businesses (Spanish version)
• Flyer for visual of how much salt to use (Spanish version)
• Brochures (in English and in Spanish) to educate your community about road salt pollution and what to do
• Yard sign template to inform your community about road salt pollution

Salt Watch Fact Sheets

Use these fact sheets to educate your community about road salt pollution.

• Chloride and Infrastructure Fact Sheet
• Chloride and Infrastructure Fact Sheet (Spanish)
• Chloride in Drinking Water Fact Sheet
• Chloride in Drinking Water Fact Sheet (Spanish)

Salt Watch Advocacy Guide

Use this guide to start a Salt Watch advocacy campaign in your community!

Call Local Government

Call your city or county Department of Environmental Protection to report high chloride levels or large salt piles (either piles spilled on the road or uncovered stockpiles). Call your Department of Transportation to ask them to apply less salt on the roads.

Share Best Practices

Property managers, community leaders, and state agencies might not know where to start in curbing salt use in your area. Share the Road Salt Best Practices compiled from our partners already working to reduce salt use in their regions.

• Maryland
• Find your legislators
• Sample letter
• Minnesota
• Find your legislators
• Sample letter
• Tell your city council / local property owners to use the model snow and ice policies and contracts with applicators from MPCA
• Pennsylvania
• Find your legislators
• Sample letter

• Virginia
• Find your legislators
• Sample letter
• Wisconsin
• Find your legislators
• Sample letter
• Tell your city council / local property owners to use the model snow and ice policies and contracts with applicators from WI Salt Wise
• Other states
• Sample letter to legislators
• Sample letter to local government

Subscribe to Our Clean Water Newsletter

We'll send you updates every other month on ways you can take action for better water quality in your community.

Donate to the Clean Water Program

Your generous gift will fund Salt Watch kits for new volunteers all over the country and help us work towards road salt reduction strategies nationwide.

• Salt Pollution in Our Fresh Water: A Costly Crisis for Human Health, Infrastructure and Aquatic Life - Salt can accelerate the corrosion of water pipes and leach dangerous chemicals like lead into our drinking water. Even if our pipes are made of safer material, the salt itself can exacerbate health conditions like high blood pressure. Yet we apply about 20 million tons of road salt to pavement each year. In this article from Outdoor America, we explore where that salt goes and how we can address this escalating crisis.


• Road Salt and Stream Health – A brief history of road salt, some stats on how much we use, how salt melts ice, and why salt hurts stream life.


• Road Salt: Way Too Much of a Good Thing – A longer read about road salt fact and fiction, and what some regions are doing to address the problem.


• Alternatives to Road Salts for Safe Winter Driving – One of our most popular blog posts ever! Next time someone asks you, "But what can we use instead of salt?", you'll be equipped with the answer.

• Salt in the Water: Action on the Ground – In this webinar, Dr. John Jackson of the Stroud Water Research Center and Kevin Roth of Pennypack Ecological Restoration Trust explain how excessive salt affects stream life and how one local community group is raising awareness and changing behavior.


• Salt Watch Kickoff: Engaging Youths and Mobilizing Adults – The official start of Salt Watch Season 6 brought together panelists to discuss ways they have used the Salt Watch Program to spread the word about road salt pollution, engaging young people in and out of the classroom and advocating for change among adults and local governments. Learn why road salt is a problem for our streams and drinking water and what you can do to help!


• Potential Corrosivity in U.S. Rivers and Links to Elevated Lead in Drinking Water – Before Salt Watch even got started, we were talking about how road salt can damage pipes and cause toxic metals to be released into drinking water. Learn more about the connection in this webinar.


• Wisconsin Salt Wise – Want to know even more about salt? Our coalition partner has tons of information for individuals and professionals.