A Message From Our Leader: Welcome to the Roaring Twenties 2.0

Water Solutions on a Global Scale

Even the Largest Lakes Aren’t Safe from Salt

Paying to Protect the Great Lakes

Upcoming Conferences:

• Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society 23rd Annual Conference
• Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society 42nd Annual Conference

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A Resolution to Reduce Aquatic Trash

Bonding Protects Consumers

A Salty Subject

Microscopic Life is Melting Greenland’s Ice Sheet

What to do with your Boxes?

Upcoming Conferences:

• 22nd Annual Northeast Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference

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Happy Birthday Wishes

Bioplastic Made from Fish Waste

300 Pounds of Road Salt per Lane per Mile

Lack of Proper Sanitation Contaminates Waterways

Upcoming Conferences

• Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society
• Pennsylvania Lake Management Society Annual Conference
• Virginia Water Conference
• 35th Annual Illinois Lake Management Association-Lakes Conference
• Western Aquatic Plant Management Society
• Wisconsin Lakes & Rivers Convention

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For Love of Water

Are you Over Salting?

Program Creates Islands from Dredged Material

Clear Water More Weeds

Upcoming Conferences

• 39th Annual Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference
• 2019 Pennsylvania Lakes Society Annual Conference
• 34th Annual Illinois Lake Management Association – LAKES Conference

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What’s on Your Plate?

Environmental Losses Spark Hope in 2019

New Blade Technology Reduces Salt Use

Texas Coast Overwhelmed with Plastic Debris

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Lake George to Reduce Road Salt

Love Your Lake

Weed Control Part of Dane County Plan

Safer Alternative to Rock Salt

Salt Marshes Store Nutrients

Chautauqua Lake Remains Priority

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Aquatic Invasive Species Thrive in Winter

To Salt or Not to Salt

Effects of Environmental Pollution

Storms Clear Water Hyacinth

Be My Green Valentine

Valentine Seed Bomb

Upcoming Conferences:

• 37th Annual Midwest Aquatic Plant Management Society Conference
• 27th Annual Pennsylvania Lake Management Society Conference
• Virginia Water Conference
• 32nd Annual Illinois Lake Management Association-Lakes Conference
• 39th Annual Wisconsin Lakes Partnership Convention

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Salt in water sources becoming worrisome in D.C. region, experts warn
By Antonio Olivo
August 8, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

The Washington region is growing — a metropolis of nearly 6 million people where area officials are pressing to build another 320,000 homes by the end of this decade.

More and more environmental groups are making noise about the devastating impact winter salting has on the environment which is raising awareness and forcing lawmakers to look at alternative solutions.  In Canada alone, the country applies five million tonnes (over 110 billion pounds) of salt during an average winter.  This salt contaminates ground and freshwater, degrades habitat, alters aquatic ecosystems and causes corrodes critical infrastructure such as water pipes.

The massive increase to the salt content of soil located next to roads affects roadside vegetation; often killing the vegetation and impeding its ability to grow back.  Unfortunately, many invasive plants are well-adapted to high levels of salt, leading to a greater potential for invasive species to take over and spread along roadside communities. Researchers in Massachusetts found that road salt use directly aided the spread of invasive phragmites along the Kampoosa Bog in Stockbridge.

Many wild animals such as moose, deer, cattle, woodchucks, squirrels and mountain goats require essential elements such as sodium in the springtime for bone, muscle and other growth.  Salt deposits exacerbate roadside collisions as the wild salt-seekers are drawn from miles away to lick the mass salt deposits left near highways and roads during the spring.

People living in snowy climates are well away of the devastating effects salt has on their vehicles, perhaps not on what can occur within their own bodies.  Excess salt can contaminate ground and freshwater; water that we drink and use to prepare food.  Not all the salt can be filtered out of the water and can pose health risks to those who require sodium-reduced diets or those with hypertension.

High levels of chloride in water can corrode plumbing and leach harmful metals into drinking water, posing health risks, particularly for people using well water. Corroded water pipes lead to breaks which can cause disruption in service and even flooding.  Not to mention that the elevated chloride levels can also corrode appliances using water such as dishwashers and washing machines.

Sustainable alternatives are being implemented in both Canada and the United States.  Many Canadian municipalities are using a more environmentally friendly de-icing agents such as a mixture of beet juice and salt.  Beet juice works in the same was as road salt, but the beet juice stays on the road longer, so it is not only effective, but requires fewer applications.  In Wisconsin, cheese brine; an industrial byproduct from the dairy industry that is normally dumped as waste, is being combined with salt to create a unique deicer.

More and more people are experimenting with sustainable salt solutions and hopefully in the near future less salt will be used.

According to to Wisconsin Saltwise, an organization designed to educate Dane County residents and maintenance professionals about road salt safety, it takes one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water to a level that is toxic for freshwater ecosystems. 

An average of 500 tons of salt a year is put into Lake Mendota during an average winter. Not intentionally of course, but the salt can wash into the lakes when met with rain.

Not only does salt degrade lake ecosystems, but it also diminishes the quality of drinking water.

Read about Madison’s action taken to limit is salt usage.