State of the Bay report has a cautionary reminder on road salt

Parry Sound uses a lot of road salt.

According to the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve, each de-icing day, depending on the temperature and road conditions, up to 450 lbs of salt is applied per kilometre of a two-lane highway.

All of that salt doesn’t just disappear once it does its job of lowering the freezing point of water. Instead, it is licked up by wild animals, absorbed by road-side plants and/or eventually leaks into nearby water bodies, like the many smaller lakes found along the coast of Georgian Bay.

Abbey Dudas, Conservation Communications Coordinator with the GBBR says one dangerous consequence of polluting our freshwater lakes with road salt is how much better invasive species like zebra mussels can tolerate it than native species.

“One dangerous consequence of polluting our freshwater lakes with road salt is the benefit it gives to invasive species like zebra muscles. They are quite happy living in water that is slightly salty so it only benefits them. Compared to our native species who are specifically adapted to our freshwater environment, invasive species have a much better chance of dealing and surviving with road salt,” Dudas cautioned.

The GBBR mentions an interesting effect of salting our roads is attracting moose and other animals to our highways. They are attracted to the salt for the same reason salt licks are used in captivity – because animals need salt minerals in their diet. What started out as an anecdotal observation became the target of a Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry study. The MNRF found that there was a positive relationship between the number of moose-vehicle collisions and de-icing locations on the stretch of highway featured in the study.

Dudas notes that there are some ways that we can reduce the amount of road salt used. She says some cities have started using beet juice, or sugar cane molasses as a salt pretreatment, creating a sweet and salty spray that better sticks to the ice.

“Because it’s such a new method, it’s hard to say how much it is helping. Unfortunately, road salt is a necessary part of northern Ontario winters, but it’s still important to understand and be aware of what we are doing to the environment,” Dudas adds.

More information can be found on curbing the use of roadside salt here.