It's time for a salting shift
Waterloo Region relies on groundwater for drinking water. Over time the salt - including ice melters labelled as environmentally friendly - we put on the ground can end up in our drinking water and cause it to taste salty.
After the salt melts the ice, it doesn't go away. Salt is damaging to the environment including our community's drinking water. It may soak into the ground to mix with groundwater (our drinking water) or enter a storm basin that connects with the local waterway.
Help keep salt out of groundwater:
| Why salt is a water quality concern |
- Chloride levels from salt and ice melter are increasing in groundwater wells (our drinking water). Overtime this could make our drinking water taste salty.
- Chloride is highly soluble. Once it dissolves in water there's really no effective way to remove it. Current water and wastewater treatment does not remove chloride from the water.
- The image below compares chloride levels in Region of Waterloo municipal groundwater wells between 1998 and 2018. Red coloured dots represent wells with the highest chloride levels of 400+ milligrams per litre. A salty taste is detectable when chloride levels reach 250 milligrams per litre.
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| What the Region of Waterloo is doing |
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| Blog posts about salt management |
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| Research projects and studies |
- Snow and Ice Control for Parking Lots and Sidewalks, University of Waterloo. Addresses the common question winter maintenance contractors face each winter: what are the right snow and ice control methods, materials, and amounts of material that should be applied under specific winter weather conditions?
- Friction and Parking Lots, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority. Friction testing show us that bare pavement is safest, as it has the highest friction value, and that the over-application of salt does not translate to safer conditions. The takeaway from this is that if you achieve bare pavement in a reasonable amount of time with little to no residual salt, you applied the right amount.
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| In the news |
- CBC, August 2021: Here's why removing unused pavement creates a cleaner city
- Kitchener Today, August 2021: New plan will focus on protecting region's drinking water from impacts of development, climate change
- NSF, April 2021: Road salts are threatening world's freshwater supplies
- Water Canada, April 2021: Study Shows Winter Road Salt Poses Year-Round Threat to Aquatic Life
- CBC, March 2021: Road salt levels in some local creeks toxic to aquatic life, says riverkeeper
- University of Waterloo, February 2021: Sustainability Theme of the Month: Salt Management
- Kitchener Today, October 2020: Region to spend similar amount on road salt this winter
- Binghamton University News, February 2020: Road salt harmful to native amphibians, new research shows
- CBC News, January 2020: Salty dragonflies mean more mosquitoes, researchers find
- The Weather Network, December 2019: Why road salt can be ineffective against removing snow and ice
- CBC News, January 2019: For the good of the planet, can we curb our addiction to road salt
- Waterloo Region Record, November 2018: Chloride levels are rising in Waterloo Region drinking water
- National Post, January 2018: How Canada's addiction to salt is ruining everything
- TVO, January 2018: Oversalted: why Ontario needs a new approach to snow removal
- WWF, January 2018: Wildlife is dying due to road salt, and it must stop
- Water Canada, January 2017: Has road salt run its course?
- Waterloo Region Record, December 2017: New campaign aims to raise awareness about winter salt use
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