Watershed Wednesday: Impact of Road Salt on Water and Alternatives

Happy #WatershedWednesday! We hope that everyone is enjoying the warmer temperatures and fresh snow!

Let’s talk about watershed health in the winter, with the main focus being road salt!

Runoff from sidewalks and roads containing road salt can have irreparable damage on the water bodies and groundwater resources within our watershed - an increase in salinity creates a hostile environment for fish to live in, creates dead zones within lakes by dissolving oxygen, kills roadside vegetation, and poses a threat to private well water.

It’s undoubtedly slippery out there! However, there are alternatives that can be used as effective de-icers:

Sand, Kitty Litter (check for chemical content), Vinegar (including pickle juice!), Sugar Beet Juice, Alfalfa Meal, Coffee Grinds, varieties of brines.

It’s not that the alternatives listed above have zero environmental impact - any foreign substance that washes into a water body can have its effects. However these have proven to be far less harmful than road salt, and the more we can reduce the use of road salt in our watershed, the better!

Switching to a road salt alternative not only enables you to protect your watershed in these long winter months, but it can also get you a stamp in your Steward Passport!