Is it time to ditch the road salt?
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25616911
A growing body of research suggests that road salt contributes to metal corrosion and can have a negative impact on ecosystems. Despite the introduction of some successful alternatives, many Canadian cities are still using salt because it's cheaper.
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I don't live in Canada, here from " random community ".
Fuck road salt! They know when they need to use it but spray that stuff all over the roads in my state at a hint of snow. Piles of it sitting next to a stream and then we don't even get snow, just rain, it's insane. They used to use a mix that was far more sand than salt in it until the late 90's (maybe even early 2k) and it worked just fine people got where they needed to go. Now with more cars having AWD they should need it less but now it is just straight up 100% salt crystal. It rots out cars and destroys the environment.
I stopped and talked to a worker for USGS (United Stated Geological Survey) and asked them what they monitor at a station down the street from my house at a small stream , i figured it was fertilizers or petroleum/ chems from surrounding suburban sprawl or a major 4 lane road that crosses a few miles upstream. They told me "salinity". It's from the road salt and they monitor it so they know how bad it is, nothing else.
The stream is a feeder creek to a secondary larger stream that feeds a river than a bay. I used to fish the secondary and walk my dog along it a few times a week and it got way worse over the course of 20 years that I was actively fishing.
They really need to be more judicious with the amount of that junk they put down as most of it is wasted and seems to do more harm than good.
There are rural areas near me that have stations for distribution of the salt and people I know who live there have poisoned wells and received a one time offer of $25k to replace damaged plumbing. The problem is even if they install a reverse osmosis system over the long term they still lose money.
Now with more cars having AWD they should need it less Quick clarifications, via 2 points: A) AWD does not help one iota when you need to steer or brake. B) Road maintenance is done for the lowest common denominator.
Better *tires *would mean less salt needed, but some places (like yours by the sound of it) end up needing more of the ice/snow removed due to more people with bad tires.
Now, that said, yeah, it's pretty ridiculous the amount of salt that goes down sometimes when more plowing and maybe a bit of sand would be more effective.