The use of salt to tackle snow and ice on roads has doubled since 1975. Officials in Ohio are focused on cutting salt use to reduce runoff into rivers.
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00:00 Too much salt in your food can be bad for your health.
00:04 Too much salt on our highways in the winter, that's bad for nature.
00:08 Everything that goes on the roads runs off into the grass and then runs into our streams and creeks.
00:15 Road salt, or sodium chloride, lowers the freezing point of water, helping to melt ice and snow.
00:21 A staggering 20 million metric tons of salt is spread on roads across America every winter.
00:28 Twice as much as was used in 1975.
00:31 My water quality scientists for years, you know, for their whole career, they've been trying to get people to talk about this.
00:38 The state of Ohio is taking a stand against excessive salt use.
00:42 They're using less of this rock salt and more of this liquid brine.
00:46 It's 23 percent salt, 77 percent water, so it's much lower salt content than just straight rock salt.
00:52 So it gets the job done, but with less actual salt out there.
00:57 We've reduced our salt output by about 240 percent.
01:01 When you look at the number back in 2019 compared to this last winter.
01:04 Ohio's Department of Transportation has also calibrated salt spreaders on trucks, train drivers, and improved storage to reduce runoff.
01:13 Because we transition to more and more of that liquid de-icer, it's going to be better for your car and my car.
01:19 It's going to be better for the environment, and it works just as efficiently and effectively.
01:23 Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency is now offering chloride reduction grants to local road crews,
01:30 helping them pay for brine mixers and better salt storage.
01:34 Technology is going to solve a lot of our environmental problems in this country.
01:39 Keep that excess salt out of our streams and creeks.
01:42 We know it's not good for the fish and the bugs, but we need to keep our streams healthy.
01:46 Using less salt to keep roads safe in the winter while saving more money.
01:51 For AccuWeather, I'm Bill Waddell.
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