Tonight I walked outside my house and saw a lot of ice on the front steps, so I grabbed a handful of salt from the pail at the front door and tossed it down to melt the ice more quickly.
MY CHALLENGE: Find out if deicing salt is harmful to the environment. If so, how much?What is the impact a cupful of salt on your front steps has, compared to millions of tons distributed over roads across our nation? Are there different methods of deicing that are better than sodium chloride (NaCl)? How does salt runoff affect humans, wildlife, soil, air, or water?
REMINDER: If you plan on answering any of these questions for me, please keep in mind that I'm not interested in opinions, I'm only interested in facts! So let's bring some facts to the table so we can form an educated opinion.
I look forward to your responses!
According to the Environmental Literacy Council, the major impact of road salt is to alter the taste of our drinking water as the salt seeps down into the water table. Depending on the concentration, this could increase sodium intake and possibly lead to hypertension.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this risk must be balanced with the risk of driving on icy roads, which is arguably more dangerous.
Although it IS very important to keep our roads safe in the winter, remember that too much salt can damage plants and hurt animals.
ReplyDeleteIf you have a dog or cat in the house, make sure supplies of road salt are kept away from your pet at all times! If your pet stops eating or seems sluggish, it may have been exposed to road salt. Seek help from your veterinarian as soon as possible!
http://www.slate.com/id/2244156/
ReplyDeleteA great article at the link above! Thanks for the input!
ReplyDelete