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Chloride Pollution
Each winter deicing salt is put onto roads and sidewalks to melt ice and make them safer. Chloride, found in salt, has become a major pollutant in our waterbodies. When ice and snow melt into our storm drains, salt is carried away with it. Once chloride enters a waterbody, it attaches itself to water molecules making it difficult to remove.
Many people use more salt than needed to melt ice and that extra salt flows into our storm drains and remains in our waterbodies forever. By adopting snow removal best practices, it reduces the amount of salt that can pollute our environment.
Chloride is very destructive to our environment in many different ways. It increases salt levels in our ground water, drinking water and our lakes. It damages infrastructure, toxic to aquatic organisms, fishes and plants. It can also be harmful to our pets.
How Much is a Problem?
- 1 teaspoon of salt to permanently pollutes 5 gallons of water.
- The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) estimated around 403 tons of salt is used statewide each winter.
- 78% road salt applied in the Twin Cities Metro area ends up in groundwater, or local lakes and wetlands.
Drinking Water
Chloride naturally occurs in water; however excess amounts in drinking water can make it taste salty. Drinking water with Higher salt concentrations is not harmful, but can be an issue for people with sodium reduced diets.
Excess salts can be removed by a reverse osmosis system, but it is expensive on a large scale.
Lakes
Chloride attaches to water molecules causing them to get heavier and sink to the bottom. This heavier water does not mix properly as the lake warms and cools, which inhibits oxygenated water from reaching the bottom of the lake. This causes harm to organisms that live close to the bottom.
The safe levels of chloride a body of water can handle is 230 mg/L which is equivalent to 1 tsp of salt per 5 gallons of water. MPCA reports 50 lakes in Minnesota have chloride levels above the standard to protect aquatic organisms and about 70 lakes are close to/or at that standard.
Another issue in our lakes is called freshwater salinization syndrome which causes heavy metals and phosphorus to seep out of sediment. This occurs when excess salts are present in fresh water and inhibits the deoxygenated water to mix and become oxygenated.
Infrastructure
Chloride is the leading cause of damage to buildings, roads, sidewalks and cars.
Chloride Corrodes:
- Concrete on parking lots, roads, sidewalks and buildings
- Metal on buildings, bridges and cars
- Carpets in stores, cars and homes
This damage leads to compromised structural integrity and each year it costs thousands of dollars to repair this damage.
Wildlife
Deicing Salt affects the welfare of our wildlife.
- House sparrows and finches can die from ingesting deicing salt.
- Deer and Moose are attracted to salty roads to increase their salt intake, which increases the risk for accidents.
- It decreases the population of salt intolerant species, which decreases biodiversity
Fish and Aquatic Organisms
Chloride is toxic to aquatic organisms such as:
- Fish
- Amphibians
- Aquatic insects
Even low concentrations of chloride can have big impacts on their reproductive success, growth and food resources.
Plants
Road salt spray can kill trees and plants alongside the road.
These trees experience:
- Salt burn
- Branch die-back
- Damaged buds
- Witches broom growth pattern
Salt in the soil inhibits the its ability to store nutrients. Plants then soak up this salty water though their roots and can experience:
- Nutrient deficiencies
- Leaf burn
- Leaf die-back
- Reduced growth
Pets
Deicing salt sold at the store is not regulated and cannot be determined as Pet Friendly. Salt can cause pets to become sick if ingested and is harmful in large quantities.
Pets consume salt by:
- eating salt
- licking it off of their paws
- drinking snowmelt
Salt exposure to pets’ feet can cause:
- Inflammation
- Irritation
- Dried/Cracked paw pads
- In extreme cases, chemical burns
If possible, put paw protectors or boots on their feet before going outside. If that is not possible, wipe or rinse off their paws after coming back inside.
How you can help!
Winter Safety
By learning basic winter safety practices, it can help reduce the amount of ice that could accumulate on the pavement and reduce the amount of salt needed. By not over salting the pavement, it reduces the cost of buying more salt during, or after the winter season.
Best Practices of snow removal
Remove as much snow and ice from the pavement before putting down sand or salt. Be quick about shoveling snow before it has a chance to compact and turn into ice. Never scoop snow into the streets, or down storm drains.
There are a variety of tools that help aid in snow removal in a variety of conditions.
- Snow Blower: mechanically remove large amounts of snow from pavement
- Scoop Shovel: Used to scoop large quantities of snow, or ice and move it to the side
- Push Shovel: Used to push the snow from the pavement
- Broom: Dust off thin layers of snow off of pavement
- Ice Chisel/scraper: Break apart compacted snow and ice then scoop it away
If ice persists, place a thin layer of sand for traction control. Make sure to scoop up extra sand and when it is no longer needed to reuse it. Sand also pollutes our waterbodies.
Best Practice of Salt Application
Before using salt, remove all of the snow and ice possible and try using sand for traction control. Only use a small amount of salt, a little goes a long way. 8 ounces, or one coffee mug, of salt is needed to treat 150 square feet, or one 20 foot long driveway. You want there to be about three inches of space in between salt grains. Do not apply salt to bare pavement as it will just wash into the storm drains and pollute our waterbodies. Using more salt does not mean ice will melt faster.
Rule of Thumb
- Only use 4 pounds of salt per 1,000 square feet.
- Store salt in an air tight container in a dry place with consistent temperature.
- Scoop up excess salt and sand to reuse
- If you do not want to reuse your leftover sand or salt, find a place near you to donate it to
