Curtis 1

Ethan Curtis

Jaeger

Composition II

12 May 2020

Chloride: A Slippery Slope Regardless

Among everything that we encounter in our daily lives, there is one thing that stands out

as being more prevalent than almost anything, salt. Whether it’s involving food, water-softeners,

roads, or even our drinking water, salt is an extremely popular thing in today’s society. Similar to

everything humans tend to abuse, there are massive repercussions. The overuse of salt has had a

long-lasting impact on our environment and if we don’t change this trend soon the problem will

shift from the number of species already affected to our own. In other words, if nothing is done

within our lifetimes the waterways that provide countless animals with life and us with drinking

water could be uninhabitable. MnDOT should reduce the use of salt to nothing on Minnesota

roadways and the MPCA should ban the use of Water softeners because of salts harmful impact

on the environment.

Primarily, it’s important to analyze the impact that the overuse of salt has on the

environment (Emmel-Duke; Breining; Plumer). When considering effects, there are a number of

consistent ways in which the world is affected like its waterways, its infrastructure, and its

inhabitance. A sense of urgency is without a doubt required if balance is ever to be restored

between human life and the environment, based off of recent study “chloride (salt) contamination

in some Twin Cities lakes will make them too salty to support native aquatic life by 2050,”

(Emmel-Duke 2017) suggesting there is not much time at all to instill change. One finding

correlates with the true nature of the effect chloride has on aquatic life, “The effect was greatest
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at the highest concentration, reducing weight of rainbow trout by more than 30 percent,”

(Breining 2017). For animals, growth rate and size are absolutely everything when it comes to

survival. “If you grow more slowly, you can be more susceptible to predators, it will take you

longer to be reproductive, you will lay fewer eggs,” (Breining 2017) a direct quote from Rick

Relyea, director of Rensselaer’s Jefferson Project at Lake George, regarding what the

undergrowth of a species means as far as negative consequence. Not only does the increase of

chloride levels effect how animals grow, “Now you make it easier for some invasive species, like

say Asian clams, zebra mussels, various snails — you make it easier for them to get a foothold if

they ever arrived in your lake,” (Breining 2017). It is clear that chloride makes maintaining the

homeostasis of our ecosystems much more difficult.

It is also clear that increasing levels of chloride can play a large role in the quality of our

drinking water. Appealing to the selfish tendencies of humanity, “High salt use can cause

problems for humans, too. Salt seeps into groundwater, raising the salinity of drinking water,”

(Breining 2017). Not only is the overapplication of salt impacting shared lifeforms on earth, but

also a self-destructive tendency. Taking the contamination of available drinking water to another

level, “according to research by the EPA and U.S. Geological Survey, high chloride increases the

corrosion of poisonous lead from old water pipes,” (Breining 2017). Without change, over time

the drinking water will be both high in salinity and lead content.

The severity of the impression salt makes on the environment is similar to the impression

made on American’s bank accounts. There is a lot of money circulating within the Snow

Removal industry, “the US now spends $2.3 billion each year to remove snow and ice from

highways,” on top of that, “it then costs another $5 billion to pay for the resulting damage caused

by salt,” (Plumer 2015). If that number appears high, keep in mind that number pertains to
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highways alone. A study from Utah suggests that, “salt corrosion now costs the U.S. $16 to $19

billion per year,” (Plumer 2015). This is money directly funneled from the taxpayers into the

hands of the government.

Breaking down the effects of this issue comes with its important counterpart, the causes

(Asleson; Plumer; Breining; Bjorhus; Marohn). An extremely relevant name related to any topic

concerning the environment is Brooke Asleson, the Water Pollution Prevention Coordinator for

the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). Asleson completes the full circle created by

cause and effect with this point made in her article Chloride 101:

An estimated 365,000 tons of road salt is applied in just the Twin Cities metro area each

year. A study by the University of Minnesota found that about 78% of salt applied in the

Twin Cities for winter maintenance is either transported to groundwater or remains in the

local lakes and wetlands (Asleson 2020).

Considering the facts that Asleson presents paired with what she said in the beginning of her

article, “It takes only one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water,” it is

tough to not draw the conclusion that this is a large issue accumulating. "We've become salt-

addicted over the last 50 years, and we're now discovering that there are all these hidden costs,"

says Xianming Shi, an associate professor in civil and environmental engineering at Washington

State University (Plumer 2015). Adhering to this statement, the numbers do not fail to illustrate

this picture painted by Shi, “the use of salt skyrocketed over time — from 0.15 metric tons (0.16

tons) per year during the 1940s to about 18 million metric tons (19.8 million tons) per year

today,” (Breining 2017). Road Salt is the most detrimental cause of the environmental disparities

existing today.
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Road salt is mainly to blame for the issues experienced, but what are the other culprits.

Another issue brought on by modernization is an appliance that many are guilty of feeding Salt.

“Water softeners — the main source of chloride discharged from wastewater treatment plants

and septic systems — are a key source of the pollutant in lakes, rivers, and streams,” (Bjorhus

2020). Another way to analyze these septic systems and how they compare to the leading cause

is by simply looking at the numbers, “Road salt was by far the largest source of chloride

statewide, contributing more than 400,000 metric tons annually to the environment,” says Kristi

Marohn, “household water softeners were the fourth largest source, contributing about 140,000

metric tons of salt per year,” (Marohn 2018). Most people are close-minded in thinking that road

salt is entirely to blame when, in fact, the appliances in our homes are almost just as big of a

problem.

With this relationship between cause and effect comes the response (Shaw; Tejada;

Plumer). By looking into the actions that have been taken by the Minnesota Department of

Transportation (MnDOT), it is possible to review what has been done directly by the people

administering the majority of the issue. Whether it is integrating new technology or simply

limiting the amount of salt use, it is important that something is done to change this long-lasting

trend. A single new technology is the icebreaker, which is a large steel wheel that breaks down

the ice on its own in some cases and reduces the amount of salt required in others. “Even when it

doesn’t completely break up the ice, the ice-breaker pokes holes to allow salt to better penetrate

and melt the ice,” (Shaw 2019). The problem here is that at $37,000 per unit, it is not very cost-

effective. Another thing that MnDOT has done in attempt to reduce the amount of salt comes

from the article by Alex Tejada, MnDOT Working to Reduce Environmental Impact of Road

Salt. In this article Tejada calls on MnDOT’s Rochester Supervisor for his take on the issue,
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where he explains a new technology referred to as the Maintenance Decision Support System,

“We can actually program our trucks, which have calibrated sanders in them, to be able to put

down just enough salt to deal with what's on the road surface itself,” (Tejada 2019). This is

another step in the right direction but considering the unpredictability of the weather this seems

like just another ploy to get people to trust that something is being done. Another attempt at salt

reduction is the use of brine. It is a commonly used mixture that has gained popularity in recent

years. The problem with brine is that it is simply just salt mixed with water and yet again does

not provide the promise of moving away from salt. Much more is required than what has been

integrated into our habits. None of what has been done comes anywhere near fixing the problem

at hand and for MnDOT to make it seem like they are making headway in solving the issue is a

preposterous cover-up of facts. Until a completely revolutionizing technology, such as non-

freezing road surfaces, comes into circulation, then it’s safe to assume that anything MnDOT

says they are doing to fix the problem is a stretch.

Anybody that opposes banning salt use would bring up how much it endangers the

public’s safety. Now, it’s clear that using salt on roads does increase public safety in the short

run, but it is counterproductive to ruin our living environment in the process. The carbon

footprint that we leave on the environment is key to examining if we are growing in the right

way. If safe driving conditions is impossible to attain without harmfully impacting our

environment, then it shouldn’t be done. The health of our planet should come before the needs of

the individual. A logical way of thinking about what the real cost of public safety is can be

defined as:

Even with the recent shortage, salt is extraordinarily cheap, and cities have a limited

budget for de-icing their roads. Plus, of course, they don't necessarily pay for all the
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indirect costs, like the corrosion on trucks or the environmental damage. If you take those

all into account, then salt is really expensive (Plumer 2015).

No matter what the case is regarding the “need” for salt, the inevitable destruction of our planet

can be a legitimate counterargument for such claims.

It is key that humanity never fails to faithfully examine our environmental impact.

Unfortunately, for years we have overlooked the results of our addiction and dependency on salt.

Many signs given by nature have been ignored and the longer this trend continues, the more

irreversible the results will become. It is unfair that our safety alone has come ahead of the safety

of the ecosystem as a whole, this cannot be argued against. I understand the claim to ban all salt

use is an extremely steep one, but in a just world where we aren’t wiping out all things living

other than ourselves, salt would be obsolete. Rick Relyea says it best with, “The salt issue is

biologically very complex, but I think it has motivated people to think about how we can

simultaneously have safe roads and healthy ecosystems,” (Breining 2017). If healthy ecosystems

cannot coincide with safe roads, then why do we continue to demonstrate such a contradictive

method of attaining safety on roadways. There is a lot of evidence that we are moving in the

direction of finding an alternative solution to chloride, but until then if nothing is changes, we

will continue to inch our way toward the demise of the environment that is home to all living

things.
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Sources:

Shaw, Bob. “MnDOT Adds More Ice-Breakers to Its Road-Clearing Arsenal.” West
Central Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 14 Nov. 2019,
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/news/weather/4769814-MnDOT-
adds-more-ice-breakers-to-its-road-clearing-arsenal

Tejada, Alex. “MnDOT Working to Reduce Environmental Impact of Road Salt.”

KTTC, Minnesota News, 26 Dec. 2019, kttc.com/2019/12/26/mndot-
working-to-reduce-environmental-impact-of-road-salt/

Emmel-Duke, Micah. “Could Saltwater Be the Solution to Minnesota's Road

SaltProblem?” Star Tribune, StarTribune, 24 Apr. 2017,
www.startribune.com/could-brine- be-the-solution-to-minnesota-s-road-
salt-problem/419744553/.

Simon, Brian, et al. “We're Pouring Millions of Tons of Salt on Roads Each Winter.
Here's Why That's a Problem.” MinnPost, 20 Nov. 2017,
www.minnpost.com/politics-policy/2017/11/we-re-pouring-millions-tons-
salt-roads-each-winter-here-s-why-s-problem/.

Chapman, Reg. “MPCA Calls for Cut Back On Road Salt Usage.” WCCO | CBS
Minnesota, WCCO|CBS Minnesota, 11 Dec. 2019,
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/12/11/mpca-calls-for-cut-back-on-
road-salt-usage/

Plumer, Brad. “How America Got Addicted to Road Salt - and Why It's Become a
Problem.” Vox, Vox, 13 Jan. 2015,
www.vox.com/2015/1/13/7531833/road-salt-environment-alternatives.

McCurdy, Pam. “10 Smart Salting Tips That Protect Minnesota Waters.”
Minnesota PollutionControl Agency, 19 Oct. 2017,
www.pca.state.mn.us/news/10-smart-salting-tips-protect-minnesota-
waterswaters.
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Marohn, Kirsti. “Study: Water Softeners Partly to Blame for Minn.'s Salty Lakes,
Streams.” MPR News, MPR News, 15 July 2018,
www.mprnews.org/story/2018/07/15/water-softeners-partly-to-blame-for-
minnesota-salty-lake-streams.

Bjorhus, Jennifer. “Minnesota Pollution Regulators Target Salt-Thirsty Water

Softeners.” StarTribune, Star Tribune, 24 Feb. 2020,
www.startribune.com/minnesota-pollution-regulators-target-salt-thirsty-
water-softeners/568128452/.

Asleson, Brooke. “Chloride 101.” Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, 4 Mar.

2020, www.pca.state.mn.us/water/chloride-101