Salt in the wound: How brine could curb damage tied to road salting


Salt in the wound: How brine could curb damage tied to road salting


When it’s Wisconsin in summertime, what comes to mind more than the topic of road salting?

Road salting and its harmful effects don’t evaporate once the snow melts and ice thaws. People are familiar with road salting when it’s applied to streets during the winter, but its effects can be clearly seen during the warmer months.

Stretches of dead grassland and strangled marshland near major roadways are obvious, but the damages of road salting are often deeper and longer-lasting than meet the eye.

“People seem to think that road salt just vanishes. It doesn’t vanish. It flows into the ditches and gutters. It seeps into lakes, rivers and watersheds,” said Allison Madison, sustainability and development coordinator with Wisconsin Salt Wise, an environmental advocacy organization. “It can take years and decades for salt to circulate out. In that time, it toxifies natural bodies of water, as well as service water and drinking water across Wisconsin.”...


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Ken Notes: We are systemically committed to road salt, so to change we need to grow into brine as we replace equipment and and upgrade our storage and distribution. A "mandate" will not work without substantial funding to support it. As a Mayor I was often forced to balance what I knew was right with what the community could afford. We should all brine and I believe we can get there, but we should also all drive electric cars, live in net zero homes, eliminate our waste stream and more...

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- - Volume: 10 - WEEK: 21 Date: 5/16/2022 8:54:01 AM -