At last week's NorCo Energy Committee meeting, Little Lehigh Watershed's Jennifer Latzgo advised Council members that we're all getting a bit too salty. The amount of road salt spread during winters has more than doubled over the past 50 years nationwide. Her group performed a study of the Little Lehigh Creek in 2023 and have documented an increase in chloride levels in areas where development has become denser. PennDot recommends between 100-300 lbs. of salt per road mile, but some municipalities apply 1,000.
This matters.
Increased chloride levels are certainly unsafe for aquatic life but can be unsafe for humans as well. Lehigh County Water Authority gets its drinking water from the Little Lehigh, which has documented that sodium chloride content has doubled over the past 20 years, sometimes over 50 mg/l. People on low sodium diets are discouraged from drinking more than 20 mg/l of water daily, but the water filtration systems in place are incapable of removing it. Once it's there, it's there.
Excessive road salt weakens soil permeability and fertility, increases its and density and also reduces the number of soil microbes and their activity.
It also damages infrastructure is being found in the United States, causing about 5 billion dollars a year in damage in the US to our roads, bridges, culverts and concrete structures.
It is a problem for vehicles, as many of us can attest.
I can also cause very, very expensive damage to flooring in buildings.
It also corrodes drinking water pipes and doing that causes the leeching of toxic chemicals such as lead.
It takes just one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute 5 gallons of water, and just one 50 lb. bag to permanently pollute a swimming pool.
Much of the problem is the result of the correct amount if salt that needs to be applied to roads. She suggested that municipalities use brining, which is cheaper, instead of the direct application of salt. She said equipment should be calibrated regularly to prevent excessive salting.
A coffee mug of salt is enough for a 20' long driveway. Excess salt should be swept up and used again.
9 comments:
Allow me to pose an alternate theory about why the concentration of sodium chloride has doubled in the Little Lehigh.
Over the past 20 years, municipalities in western Lehigh County have grown at a tremendous rate. At the same time, the Lehigh County Authority, supposedly the guardians of the county’s water supply, have approved agreements with numerous bottling companies to take an increasing amount of water completely OUT of the Little Lehigh watershed. This has had a devastating effect on water levels - and water quality - downstream.
Even if the sodium chloride levels had remained the same (and I don’t doubt that they’ve actually increased), lowering the water levels of the Little Lehigh would have the same effect - the level of concentration of sodium chloride would increase. Only in this case you’ve decreased the denominator (instead of increasing the numerator) to get the same result.
While the bottling agreements have been good for the LCA’s bottom line, they’ve been terrible for the health of the stream. In addition to the high sodium chloride levels, the bacteria levels (especially in the summer when things are hot and water levels lower) have skyrocketed.
While I don’t know Ms. Latzgo or the organization she’s with, I would suggest that they are missing the much bigger issue regarding what’s causing the problems in the Little Lehigh.
As an aside, when I hear the Allentown Mayor rant about the dangers of swimming in city waterways, I have to wonder if it’s a sincere concern about drownings or an attempt to keep the potential for widespread illness (from swimming in unsafe water) from becoming a news story. After all, Allentown’s financial health is dependent on the LCA being able to continue to make payments on their water lease agreement with the city.
She forgot to throw some blame out for melting ice in the Arctic
Difficult problem. Salt on roads saves lives. Brining is imprecise, as most municipalities and agencies don't have any idea how to make the correct saline brew. Brining is also only effective for an hour or so before it dissolves and washes away. The best solution for safety and the environment is beet juice. It's cheap, plentiful, biodegradable, and actually nourishes the surrounding soil. The problem with beet juice is that it stains some surfaces, especially light-colored cars, red.
I did take notice that with very moderate winters, at the end of the season they seemed to dump more, in an effort to get rid of supply on hand. I do remember when they actually used cinders from the steel, it worked good for traction and free for the hauling.
I follow the math, but...are you suggesting this water is removed before the chloride levels are measured?
in parts of new england, they use sand on side streets. works great under 30 mph
Take the bus.
This past winter, the city of Allentown dumped a pile of salt in my alley. I shoveled it up because I was tired of it being tracked into my garage. I was surprised to see that it filled up a five gallon bucket, which I reckon to be about 50 labs. Don't think I'll ever have to buy any. Anyway, for those who can say "Precautionary Principle!!!" but can't deal with risk/benefit analysis, here's something to get their pretty little heads spinning: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/sand-on-roads-worse-than-salt-scientists-say/
I’m saying you have less water flowing downstream than you did 20 years ago, thanks to the LCA selling it off.
Less water = Higher concentration
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