Though salt can make roads safer during winter weather, environmental groups are working to find alternatives that are more friendly to local waterways.
“Excess salt from roads and parking lots ends up in local streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay, which is really bad news for freshwater critters like our smallmouth bass and freshwater mussels, which need clean, fresh water to survive,” said Joe Wood, senior scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “Spiking salt levels send a real shock to the system for plants and animals that are used to freshwater.”
Salts can also damage infrastructure through corrosion, hurt native trees and plants and degrade the health of soil where it is used. Megan Rippy, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, recently published research from a year-long study that found relying on salt-tolerant plants may not be enough to counteract excessive use of salt in deicing…