Master Watershed Stewards Take Part in Winter Salt Stream Snapshot

The Penn State Master Watershed Stewards took part in a winter salt stream snapshot during Winter Salt Week 2025, a multi-state effort to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of excessive salt and deicing chemicals used on roads, sidewalks, and parking lots. On January 31, 2025, Master Watershed Stewards in York, Chester, Delaware, and Berks Counties took part in a one-day stream sampling event in partnership with Stroud Water Research Center. Over 300 volunteers from thirty organizations collected 600 stream samples and tested them for specific conductivity and chlorides, both indicators of salt pollution. Volunteers uploaded test results into a database, which Stroud scientists analyzed. Results show salt concentrations at the various sights. According to Stroud scientists, the results are alarming and indicate an urgent need to address winter salt use. Seventy percent of the stream sites exceeded one or more safe limits. You can find the link to the results at Winter Salt Stream Snapshot Data - Results Map.

Why is this research necessary?

The use of road salt and deicing chemicals has increased significantly in recent decades. According to the Izaak Walton League of America, between 20-30 million tons of road salts are applied to roadways annually in the United States. Road salts and deicing chemicals help eliminate ice on roadways, keeping communities safe. However, there is room for improvement regarding salt application. Too much road salt applied in our communities pollutes freshwater ecosystems harming wildlife, contaminating drinking water, and damaging infrastructure. 

Wildlife: Salt runoff harms aquatic life and can make sensitive aquatic insects and amphibians disappear, altering freshwater ecosystems. Chlorides can also deplete oxygen levels in water, damaging fish and other aquatic life. Birds and other animals may ingest salt, causing poisoning and exposure to heavy metals and additives in the salt. The attraction to the salt can also cause wildlife to get hit by automobiles. 

Drinking water: Salt in drinking water is difficult to remove. Installing and maintaining reverse osmosis treatment can be a solution, but it is costly. Chlorides are also corrosive and can cause corrosion and damage drinking water infrastructure, including home pipes.

Infrastructure: Salt is corrosive and is damaging to vehicles, roads, bridges, and stormwater infrastructure. The costs and damages impact everyone living in a community.

What can you do?

• Help with the research and request a kit to test for chlorides in a stream, lake, or river.
• Be proactive and watch the weather. Treat before the ice forms.
• Plow, shovel, blow, or sweep snow before salting. Follow instructions and calibrate your equipment to apply the necessary amounts.
• Use less salt. More is not better. It needs space to work effectively. Only use what you need and clean up excess salt.
• Use traction like sand (use sparingly not to clog storm drains) or birdseed. Wear boots with good traction.
• Educate others about the impacts and encourage them to "cut the salt."

Freshwater ecosystems, such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and vernal pools, are not meant to be salty. Everyone can do their part by raising awareness, decreasing salt applications, and using alternative deicing methods to help protect freshwater resources. To learn more about excessive salt use and stream health, visit Winter Salt and Fresh Water and Environmental Hazards of Road Salt.

References:

Izaak Walton League of America. 2025. Salt Watch.

Penn State Extension. Mansberger, J. 2023. Environmental Hazards of Road Salt.

Stroud Water Research Center. 2025. Winter Salt and Fresh Water