In big cities they put salt on the road so people can
continue with their everyday lives. Everyone knows salt helps keep the road
safe when it snows, but what people don’t know is that the salt that is put on
the road gets into the drinking water. According to the Smithsonian “More than
22 million tons of salt are scattered on roads of the US”. The salt flows away
in the form of runoff. According to the Smithsonian “A stream in Southeastern
New York state that was monitored from 1986 to 2005 ….. with a significant
annual increase and road salting to blame for an estimated 91 percent of sodium
chloride in the watershed” The salt can also kill plants on the side of road
ways.
What is there to do to prevent these problems from occurring
any longer? According to the Smithsonian all of these are used with salt to
help limit the salt used“Beet juice, sugar cane, molasses and cheese brine.”
There is no solution that works without salt. In my opinion they can put
special storm drains in on roads that get treated often and send the water for
special cleaning.
This is an issue if our water is becoming contaminated. I see the use in it for driving in snow, but maybe there is another possible option like you mentioned. Also, if the salt is harming wildlife something else has to be fone to prevent this.
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