Top of PageWhat are the environmental concerns associated with road salts?
The five-year comprehensive science assessment determined the release of road salts into the environment in very high amounts leads to environmental problems. About five million tonnes of road salts are used in Canada each year to mitigate ice and snow conditions on roads and to provide safer road conditions. However, the heavy use of road salts can lead to damage to vegetation, as is most obvious with roadside vegetation damaged by salt splash. They have also been associated with damage to organisms in soil, to birds and to other wildlife. Almost all chloride ions from road salts eventually find their way into waterways, whether by direct runoff into surface water or by moving through the soil and groundwater. In surface water, road salts can harm freshwater plants, fish and other organisms that are not adapted to living in saline waters.
