Imagine 176,000 metric tons of table salt poured onto Adirondack roads each year. If you can’t imagine it, just keep an eye out next winter. Each year, the state of New York uses huge amounts of road salt to de-ice roads throughout the state. Unfortunately, when the road salt runs off and contaminates waterways, the consequences can be devastating to natural systems.
New York state uses more road salt than any other state in the United States. As stated before, 176,000 metric tons of road salt are applied throughout the Adirondacks and this high application rate doesn’t seem to be changing. There has been very little research from local governments and agencies to improve road management with a lesser environmental impact. In an effort to identify the negative consequences of road salt in waterways, the Adirondack Watershed Institute of Paul Smith’s College began monitoring 15 streams that represent varying levels of road salt application. This experiment, which has not yet been finished, promises to shed light on the effect of road salt in the Adirondacks as a hole because the findings can be applied to the entire region due to similar soil composition and geology.
The Adirondack Watershed Institute has detailed some of the consequences of road salt application. The sodium from road salt enters soils and displaces other essential cations in the soil. This leads to the leaching of other cations and heavy metals and decreased soil fertility. In one experiment, the calcium, magnesium, and sodium release from soils was 31% higher on paved roads (road salt applied) than on unpaved roads (no road salt applied). At the very least, road salt disturbs the natural composition of the soil.
But, the consequences don’t stop there. Researchers have found that salt concentrations accumulate and increase over time. This finding is evidenced by unusually high sodium and chloride levels in waterways even during the summer. The presence of these ions in the water is concerning because the Adirondacks waters have very low naturally occurring concentrations of sodium and chloride so the introduction of these ions may disrupt natural systems. Contaminated waters pose serious threats to both humans and wildlife. Salt, which raises blood pressure, may contaminate wells and contribute to health issues in humans. Some animals, including deer and moose, ingest salt crystals, which can be toxic. Further, chloride in surface waters can be toxic to aquatic life.
Due to increased pressure from environmental groups, the state of New York has introduced several changes to their road salt application. First, the state promised to cut application across the board by 10%. Second, the state improved storage facilities to decrease runoff. Third, the state has limited the speed of plow trucks to limit the bounce of road salt off of the roadway. Fourth, the state has began implementing pre-storm anti-ice liquids to decrease the need for road salts. Although all of these steps improve the situation, road salts will still be heavily applied in the Adirondacks and throughout the state. With further research on the environmental and health consequences of road salt pollution, we can only hope that road salt application will decrease or that an eco-friendly alternative can be found.
Rock salt is probably my least favorite part of winter in New York, and I like it even less after reading this! The struggle of course, especially in the Adirondacks, is that the curvy back country roads are super dangerous without it. That's still no reason for NYS to use more than any other state however...maybe we should learn from our even snowier friends out west.
ReplyDeletePeople use road salt everywhere. I am from DC and we don't get many snow storms. But before the start of winter, I remember my dad going out onto our front porch and scattering it with salt to prevent ice. It's really a horrible thing that road salt disrupts the ecosystem this much and I wonder if people are aware of it. Is it possible to replace road salt with a more environmentally friendly option? I know sand can be used to prevent ice formation. However, the use of sand in such large quantities in the Adirondacks would probably also have an impact on ecosystems.
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