Today we’re going to talk about Road Salt and how it increases Urban Stream Contamination. Not the funnest of all topics, but is considerably important. The regular amount of chloride concentrations exceed the toxic levels in many streams that are located in the northern United States. Not only that but that amount has increased a lot in 20 years. “Chloride levels increased substantially in 84 percent of urban streams analyzed,according to a U.S. Geological Survey study that began as early as 1960 at some sites and ended as late as 2011” (enn).The scientists got the water quality data from 30 sites and more than half of it has enough salt, that the contamination is enough to cause another great depression. What causes the problem? Well, it’s road deicing by cities, “Road deicing by cities, counties and state agencies accounts for a significant portion of salt applications, but salt is also used by many public and private organizations and individuals to deice parking lots, walkways and driveways. All of these sources are likely to contribute to these increasing chloride trends” (enn). Not only that but there are other sources such as wastewater treatments, septic systems, geological deposits, farming etc.
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