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For the past 40 years we have been using salt, sand and other chemicals to keep our roads safe for winter driving. But how safe is road salt itself? Take a look along highways this spring and you’ll see salt-altered tree branches that look like witches’ brooms.
A survey of the Minneapolis metropolitan area shows road crews typically apply 10 tons of salt per road mile per year on the county and city streets. In Dane County, Wis., application rates peak at 14 tons per road mile. Other impacts are illustrated in these studies: a United States Geological Survey study shows that chloride concentrations and the percent of impervious surfaces near lakes and rivers correlated negatively with mayfly abundance and fish species numbers and diversity. Iron cyanide is often added to road salt to make it easier to spread. Free cyanide can be released from this compound under certain conditions. The free cyanide in runoff from salt piles has been monitored in concentrations that exceed acute toxicity levels. A national study conducted between 1993 - 98 shows that Minneapolis and St. Paul area streams and ground water rank among the highest in concentrations of chlorides. |
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| This is not only a problem in the United States. Salt used to de-ice Canadian roads is toxic to the environment, according to results of a five-year assessment by Environment Canada. The report found that the five million tons of road salts used in Canada every winter contaminate ground water, surface water and poison wildlife and harm vegetation You can help: Drive slower during the winter. Tell your friends to drive slower; tell your public works departments you are willing to drive slower. Road crews have pressure on them to make perfectly clear roads to accommodate high-speed traffic year round Encourage your city/county to store road salt where it is contained and cannot leach into ground water, be dispersed by wind or dissolved by rain and runoff to our surface waters. This includes piles of pure salt and those of a mixture of sand and salt. Encourage your city and county to use the right de-icing product at the right time in the right amount. The Local Technical Assistance Program in your state has a training program that can help. Visit www.ltapt2.org |
| If you have questions about how to make your home and property more environment-friendly, e-mail the author at <fci@iaxs.net> or write to Connie Fortin, c/o Midwest Fly Fishing™ magazine, 4030 Zenith Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55410. We ask also that you contact us with the results of environment-friendly changes you have made to your property or to steams and lakes near you and let us know about persons or organizations that have contributed to the future well being of our natural resources. Recognition will be accorded these "new environmentalists" in future issues of Midwest Fly Fishing™ magazine and on our website. Connie Fortin can also be reached at Fortin Consulting Inc., 215 Hamel Road Hamel MN 55340 (763) 478-3606. |
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