Road Salt's Harm to Freshwater Ecosystems Could Ripple Out to All of Us

We have a problem with salt, but we are not talking about our diet. Salt is effective at de-icing our highways in the winter, but it is also causing damage to the freshwater environment.

Regulators in the US, Canada, and Europe don't do enough to protect marine life. The normal functioning of these ecosystems is now under threat.

Researchers point the finger at road salt, as well as salt used in agriculture and mining, as reasons why concentrations in water are on the rise. They want the government to control the use of salt.

Salt concentrations are rising in lakes and rivers across North America and Europe due to road de-icing.

In the US, Canada, Sweden, and Spain, researchers studied the effects of increasing levels of salt in water taken from lakes.

There was an increase in algae and a significant loss of zooplankton even at the safe levels. Europe had higher thresholds.

Zooplankton is a key food source for young fish, and its disappearance has a major knock-on effect. More than half of the zooplankton population was killed off by salt concentration levels approved in Canada and the US.

Algae expands as zooplankton disappears.

More algae in the water could lead to a reduction in water clarity, which could affect organisms living on the bottom of lakes.

The loss of zooplankton has the potential to change the services lakes provide, such as recreational opportunities, drinking water quality and fishing.

Despite local variations in geology, land use, and water chemistry, the problem is the same despite the experiment carried out at 16 different sites. It is important to stop the increase in salt in the first place.

The benefits of salt use to prevent traffic accidents need to be carefully balanced against the ecological impacts of climate change.

Shurin says that the results of the study show that the levels of saltiness in the environment are lower than previously thought, with fish, algae, and other organisms likely being impacted at levels commonly seen in the field.

The transportation agencies that decide how much and when to apply salt to roads follow these guidelines.

We need to set stricter limits on salt pollution if we want to preserve the freshwater ecosystems of the future.

The research has been published.