Excessive Road Salt: AsSALTing Our Streams
Putting down salt on traveling surfaces can help make them safer during treacherous winter conditions. But excessive levels of salt has consequences in our waterways.
Who doesn’t love snow?! It’s fun to play in, pretty to look at, and no day’s better than a snow day. But, when a layer of snow compacts on sidewalks and roads, it can make for some treacherous conditions. Putting down salt on traveling surfaces can help make them safer. When salt dissolves, it lowers the freezing temperature of water. That means the water stays liquid at colder temperatures, and makes ice and snow melt faster without refreezing into a slick sheet of ice, keeping roads and sidewalks safe.
Environmental Impact
But what happens to all that salt when the ice and snow melt away? It gets carried along with that meltwater and ends up in our streams. Freshwater animals and plants can’t survive in high salinity water. Even if average levels remain safe, sudden spikes in salinity are especially harmful to the animals that live in streams. On warm days, lots of snowmelt can carry a load of road salt into streams all at once, resulting in spikes that can reach toxic levels. While some of our fish, including trout, have migrated downstream to larger waterways during the winter, smaller fish including sculpins and daces, as well as sensitive aquatic insects like mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies live in these streams through winter. Furthermore, salt can concentrate in the larger rivers downstream that are fed by several contaminated tributaries.
Infrastructural Impact
In addition to causing environmental damage, road salt also degrades infrastructure. Gritty salt wears away at paved surfaces, and fine or dissolved salt can corrode metal and cement. This includes roads and sidewalks, guard rails, and vehicles themselves. Here in the Blue Ridge mountains, many municipalities source water from rivers or shallow wells. When road salt contaminates these water sources, it can damage filters and corrode pipes.
Taking Action
If road salt is so bad, what can we do about it? Alternatives to road salt are considered in some areas. Sand and gravel can help increase traction on roads, but they don’t actually melt away ice. Plus, with sand and gravel, the sediment left behind can still damage paved surfaces and lead to sedimentation in streams.
Road salt is a powerful tool. When used wisely, damage to ecosystems and infrastructure can be greatly reduced. It only takes 12 oz. (that’s a cup and a half) to effectively treat 20 feet of road. Using more doesn’t make the snow melt significantly faster, but it does contribute to more contaminated runoff. Plowing roads regularly and salting roads less frequently can greatly reduce the amount of salt necessary to make roads safe.
This winter, you can help protect our streams by being more aware of local salt use. Keep an eye out for spilled piles of road salt or uncovered salt stockpiles. These can be reported to VDOT and the DEQ. Pay attention to salting practices, and if you feel your area is oversalting roads, say something! By showing property managers, community leaders, and local government representatives that you care, you can help change winter road treatment practices.
You can also make a huge difference in your neighborhood. If you are able, try to keep up with the snowfall and shovel it from traveling surfaces before it builds up. Read the instructions on road salt bags, and calculate how much salt you actually need to use to treat your driveway and walkways. By using the right amount, you can help protect streams and your wallet. Offer to help neighbors, and talk to them about the importance of reducing salt use. If you have a lot of surface to plow, perhaps consider an electric snow blower- you could share the cost with neighbors!
More Information: Salt Watch
If you are interested in learning more, the Izaak Walton League of America has a program called Salt Watch. They provide some great resources on their website including articles about the damages and benefits of using road salt and how to responsibly use it; templates for educational yard signs, pamphlets, and letters to public officials; an interactive map showing stream salinity data from the last 6 winters; and links to other resources. You can even sign up to help monitor road salt runoff! They offer free salinity test kits so you can test your local stream, and report your findings to them. This data can help officials make more informed decisions in regions that are highly impacted by saline runoff.
Skunk Cabbage
Skunk Cabbage is by far the strangest flower you'll ever come across in the Blue Ridge.
Skunk Cabbage, Photo Credit: Mike Floyd
Skunk Cabbage is by far the strangest flower you'll ever come across in the Blue Ridge... it has a leathery rigid bloom that can work its way up through snow and ice in late February and early March by generating its own heat! This is known as thermogenesis, a process in which a plant produces heat above the air temperature through cyanide resistant cellular respiration!? A rare feat among plants! The bloom grows to between 2-5" tall and puts off a feces-like odor that attracts scavenging pollinators like winter stoneflies while keeping away large mammals that might destroy the bloom. The plant grows in soft soggy stream bottoms where you can often find it in large patches. It is peaking right now, so go check them out!
Skunk Cabbage
Exciting to finally see the Skunk Cabbage blooming for the first time this last week of February. Because it is a winter blooming flower I forget to go looking for it, especially with the snow cover. I have read that the heat produced by the rapid growth of the flower will actually melt snow. The snow finally melted here in Grayson a couple of weeks ago and I was determined to find the flower this year. Knowing exactly where it grows on our property helped make it more easy to come up with but it was still difficult to spot. It was tucked into a recessed pocket of soil, in a low lying ravine with water seeping all around. Even though it is a reddish color it blended in very well with its' surroundings. I kept a check on it and eventually it emerged from the ground to about 4 inches and opened up somewhat to reveal the spadix, covered with tiny prickly flowers. I accidentally step on it. Luckily it is a thick and sturdy flower, and it released it's pungent stinky onion type odor. Likely the most unusual flower I've seen.
-Jane Floyd
Views out a wintery window
As usual I got up early to do some computer work and as I gazed out the frosty windows (25 F on our back farm porch) I saw an indistinct black object moving around on a rock in the pond next to our house (see photos).
This rock often has interesting birds on it such as solitary sandpipers or green herons, sunning snapping turtles, or dragonflies and damselflies. The bluets really favor this rock.
At once I realized that it must be a mink and you may be convinced by the hasty photos I snapped before it plunged into the pond and swam away.
I only rarely see mink in this area- once before in our yard and once at Claytor Lake, yet they are obviously around. One of the neighbors told me they used to get at his chickens occasionally, and this seems appropriate for a large weasel. They are one of those cryptic mammals that we think are present but rarely get a chance to observe them.
Clearly the mink has a very thick and well-insulating fur coat since they are said to be one of the aquatic mammals that has no real blubber layer but relies only on fur to keep warm in cold water. the very thought of swimming this morning definitely sends chills up my spine!
Bill -Galax, VA
Frostflakes
After an evening of 5-10
degree temperatures and following some heavy snow, the valleys in the SW VA Blue Ridge had a magnificent frosting event. The crystals of frost grew large and heaved themselves into upright positions. I found these on top of my car.
Immediately I was struck
by how
some of the frost growth presented itself as perfect crystals...identical to individual snowflakes.
There was one significant difference...size. These "frost flakes" were twice the size of the
a couple of weeks ago. I estimate the frost to be between 1/4" -1/2" in total crystal width. The snowflakes were tiny...always less than 1/4" wide.
And so, I am left with questions:
Why is there such a similarity in crystal structure and appearance and yet a difference in size?
Were these frost crystals permitted a greater amount of time for growth (and thus grew larger)?
Could they have grown at a slower rate under sustained conditions?
Given that water is a mineral, is it likely that its crystal growth behaves similarly to that of other minerals like sugar, salt, emerald, quartz, pyrite, to name a few?
What are the conditions for optimal water crystal growth anyway??
By the way, for you rockhounds out there: Water is technically a mineral, and rocks are defined as being a mixture of minerals. So, if one were to accidentally scoop up a little sand, silt, or other mineral while creating a snowball (inevitable), presto! Yes, technically, snowballs are rocks, and a local geologist agreed with this logic ...the same can be said for glaciers and muddy rivers. I suspect a distinction can be made with relationships between particles however. Rocks usually contain fused minerals, rather than suspended. But, if this distinction does not play a role in defining rocks, the comparison still stands (and awaits the onslaught of more knowledgable folk). So the next time you get hit in the head with a snowball, and it feels like a rock...well, it probably is.
Catching Snowflakes
Tools:
We laid black pieces of construction paper on a bench during yesterday's snow. We left them in the frigid air for two hours prior to beginning. The images were captured with a point-and-shoot camera
(Cannon Powershot SX110-IS)
on its wonderful macro setting. The temperature at the time of taking these photographs ranged between 14-18 degrees Fahrenheit...which is the key to sharp and clear crystals.
Patience:
It took about two hours of searching to find these crystals, as the majority that we observed were in layers and clumps. Occasionally, all falling snow would shift over to being just needles. The sharply defined singular crystals were very hard to see...they were very thin and transparent, and required looking at an angle to catch reflecting light.
Next time:
I really wish we could have gotten sharper images,... we pushed the limits of our point-and-shoot camera, that's for certain. Next time, maybe we'll have a dissecting microscope with a camera!
Share your images:
We would love to see any images you might have taken as well!
Snow, act one
Awakening to nearly ten inches of new snow, the dogs and I headed out to explore the strangely transformed landscape. After reaching the bottom of the south hill, we looked up to view our house before entering the woods. The dogs had begun an arduous walk, nearly burrowing themselves with every step.
After rousing five does from their protection beneath the pine boughs, we quietly edged our way to the creek's edge. What is always most exciting to me is the creek's changes through the seasons, and always its steady beauty.
It was not quite cold enough for ice formations along the creek, such as I have seen on other days. I captured a few small ice events, however.
I pondered the issue of snow's weight on the plants around me, realizing that maintaining leaves through the winter could have a negative effect on the limbs and branches. Perhaps this would be another adaptation for some plants, to lose their leaves entirely.