It impacts our rivers, lakes and streams. At home, frequent shoveling is best!
Road salt is an important tool for making roads, parking lots, driveways and sidewalks safer during ice and snowstorms. But as the snow melts and becomes runoff, this salty water washes into our lakes, rivers and streams. It has an especially quick and easy path to our waterbodies through curbside storm drains, which don’t filter or treat runoff.
Increased levels of chloride from road salt and other de-icers in our freshwater systems is harmful or toxic to aquatic organisms, damages or kills vegetation and makes drinking water unhealthy for people.
HRWC recommends shoveling early and often. Avoid using salt and other de-icers altogether!
Balance your need for safety, potential environmental impacts, costs and convenience when choosing the best snow removal option for your home.
If you MUST use a de-icer, follow these tips:
- Do consider a product that is labeled “environmentally or eco friendly,” keeping in mind that most contain some chloride. Shop early in the season for more choices in the store.
- Check and follow the label’s application instructions for the most effective treatment. Some work better when applied before a snowfall to prevent ice from forming. Some stop working at colder temperatures. Pay attention to whether directions refer to air or pavement temperatures.
- Use as little as is needed to get the job done. More de-icer does not mean more melting. (When using salt, use less than 4 pounds per 1,000 square feet. One pound of salt is approximately a heaping 12-ounce coffee mug.)
- Limit your use of sand. Instead of melting ice, sand provides traction. But it also increases the amount of sediment in our lakes, rivers and streams.
- Promptly remove slush and any residual de-icers or sand from concrete surfaces to minimize polluted runoff. If de-icer or sand is visible on dry pavement it is no longer doing any work and will be washed away. Sweep it up and save it for later or throw it away.
“Improved Winter Maintenance: Good Choices for Clean Water,” a 15-minute video produced by the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization in 2011. Learn the best tools for keeping driveways and sidewalks safe this winter, what deicers work under different winter conditions and whether to use them at all, and the impacts of sand and deicers to our lakes, streams and groundwater.
This Week in EPA Science, The EPA Blog, January 22, 2016
Road Salt is Polluting our Rivers, Wired, March 12, 2015
The Surprising History of Road Salt, National Geographic, February 14, 2014
What Happens to All the Salt We Dump On the Roads, Smithsonian.com, January 6, 2014
More technical information:
The Effect of Road Salt on Urban Watersheds and Management Options, April 17, 2015 (a research paper on road salt application and subsequent implications on water quality, including data from the Huron River by Stevi Kosloskey, Watershed Planning Assistant)
Solving Slick Roads and Salty Streams, Stormwater Report, March 4, 2015
Canada Sets National Targets for Road Salt, Study Shows Stream Toxicity from De-icers Increasing Rapidly, Stormwater Report, February 3, 2015
This page is supported by the Middle Huron Stormwater Advisory Group.