Road Salt Putting Rivers on High-Sodium Diet
The amount of salt dissolved in streams in the Northeast is rising, and chemicals used to clear snow and ice from the roads are being blamed.
“We’re basically hardening the watersheds and feeding them a high-salt diet. There is a direct connection between the number of driveways and parking lots we have and the quality of our water,” said Sujay Kaushal of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science in Frostburg.
Kaushal and colleagues tested water in streams in rural areas, comparing the amount of dissolved salt over several decades.
Their findings are reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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