This is a featured guest post by Kaashvi Kasera, a student at Oakton High School. Kaashvi is a member of the Environmental Club at her school and is currently working on her Girl Scout Gold Award.

Snow has fallen and salt on the roads has become a familiar sight this winter. 

Salt lowers the freezing point of water, which prevents ice from forming and makes driving in the winter safer. However, most people don’t know that salting roads and sidewalks can negatively affect local waterways, animals, and plants, because salt contains chloride, which is toxic to aquatic and plant life. In fact, salt can even corrode equipment and damage infrastructure, such as buildings, concrete, and our own vehicles, as it creates chemical reactions that can corrode our cars. This costs approximately 5 million dollars for repair in the United States alone.

Let’s dive deeper into how salt affects the environment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency states that although road salting has benefits, there are “many opportunities for improvement”. One of the major consequences that salt poses on our environment is that it can contaminate drinking water through penetrating surface and ground waters, which can affect people with high blood pressure. Additionally, the salt can flow to the lakes and rivers around us, and cause the habitats of many aquatic species to become too salty for them to survive. Excess road salt can kill plants and harm wildlife, such as deer, who often lick the salt, as they have a natural craving for sodium.

Many may think that although road salt may be harmful to wildlife in excess, it’s necessary to keep our roads safe. In fact, an interviewee on WBGH, a public radio station located in Boston, Massachusetts, claimed, “The alternative, of course, is that no one’s going to be safe on the roadways. [Salt’s] just a necessary evil to use around here…”. 

This may seem true, but Winter Salt Week, a week where governmental and non-governmental organizations address the pressing issues of salt on our roads, works to establish firmer policies and community action. The dedicated week discusses ways for us to help reduce the harmful effects of salt and provides alternatives for salt for us to stay safe on the roads and keep our environment safe. 

There are several simple steps we can take as a community. It’s important to become familiar with #WinterSaltSmart practices. This includes shoveling early, and removing snow from pavements before it turns to ice. It’s important to use salt only after the snow has been cleared as well as only using salt in areas needed for safety. It’s also crucial to ensure that you spread the salt evenly–try not to distribute salt in clumps or patches. Also…use less salt! Adding more salt does not guarantee more melting. A 12-ounce mug of salt should be enough for a 20-foot driveway or about 10 sidewalk squares. Additionally, we can divert downspouts. When possible, we encourage channeling downspout spillage to drain onto lawn areas rather than sidewalks and driveways. To continue, look for salt that is left over. If you see salt remaining after the ice has melted, sweep the salt into safe storage to keep the salt from entering our rivers and streams. You can use it again next time! Lastly, it’s important to keep an eye on the temperature. Salt will not work if you apply when the temperature is below 15° Fahrenheit. If the temperature is below 15°F, consider building traction with alternatives such as native birdseed or sand.

We’re going to end this article with one last tip about being salt smart in the winter. Brine–salt melted in water–is much more effective than salt and is healthier for the environment, so we recommend using it to pretreat if your state or county allows it. We hope that you put these strategies for salt application into use, and become more #WinterSaltSmart!