Hold the (road) salt, please

By DAVID ANDERSON
minuteman media
Every winter storm, Ohio road crews drive snowplows and apply chemical deicers to help improve road travel safety. When it comes to melting roadway ice, sodium chloride, or rock salt, is the de-icer of choice because it works quickly and cheaply. But there are warning signs that road salt's cost effectiveness could lead to some very expensive long-term consequences.
A paper titled "From icy roads to salty streams" published in a recent issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" suggests road salt poses a long-range environmental threat to fresh water systems and soils. The paper's authors, Robert Jackson and Esteban Jobbagy, point out "the use of rock salt on U.S. roads has skyrocketed in the last 65 years." They say that in 1940, rock salt sales for highway use were only 149,000 metric tons, but these days we spread almost 18 million metric tons on roads every year. Six states combined consume three-quarters of the total amount: New York, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Sprawl effect
Over the last 65 years, our car culture sprawled into suburbs and beyond. We built more highways, streets, parking lots, and bridges. In the Snow Belt, more pavement means more road salt. And because salt is soluble in water, the runoff of salty water from paved surfaces can pollute streams, groundwater, and nearby soil.
Even if we choose to ignore possible environmental threats from rock salt, it's easy to see the corrosive damage done to our infrastructure. The salt that's supposed to make wintry roads safer ends up eating away roads, bridges and vehicles.
There are de-icer alternatives that cost significantly more per ton than rock salt but do less damage to the environment and our infrastructure.
Salt has both beneficial and detrimental connotations. A praiseworthy person is considered to be "salt of the earth." But when the ancient Romans destroyed Carthage they scourged the site by pouring bags of salt on the ground.
We can reduce road salt usage and still provide safer roads in the Snow Belt states. Alternative de-icers might cost more up front but down the road they'll save tons of money
X David Anderson is a former public radio news producer and reporter in Columbus. Distributed by MinutemanMedia.org.