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Freshwater is Getting Saltier, Threatening People and Wildlife (scientificamerican.com)
Salts that de-ice roads, parking lots and sidewalks keep people safe in winter. But new research shows they are contributing to a sharp and widely rising problem across the U.S. From a report: At least a third of the rivers and streams in the country have gotten saltier in the past 25 years. And by 2100, more than half of them may contain at least 50 percent more salt than they used to. Increasing salinity will not just affect freshwater plants and animals but human lives as well -- notably, by affecting drinking water. Sujay Kaushal, a biogeochemist at the University of Maryland, College Park, recounts an experience he had when visiting relatives in New Jersey. When getting a drink from the tap, "I saw a white film on the glass." After trying to scrub it off, he found, "it turned out to be a thin layer of salt crusting the glass."
When Kaushal, who studies how salt invades freshwater sources, sampled the local water supply he found not just an elevated level of the sodium chloride, widely used in winter to de-ice outdoor surfaces, but plenty of other salts such as sodium bicarbonate and magnesium chloride. He also found similar concentrations of these chemicals in most rivers along the east coast, including the Potomac, which provides drinking water for Washington, D.C. Where did all of it come from? De-icing salts, Kaushal determined, are part of the problem, slowly corroding our infrastructure.
When Kaushal, who studies how salt invades freshwater sources, sampled the local water supply he found not just an elevated level of the sodium chloride, widely used in winter to de-ice outdoor surfaces, but plenty of other salts such as sodium bicarbonate and magnesium chloride. He also found similar concentrations of these chemicals in most rivers along the east coast, including the Potomac, which provides drinking water for Washington, D.C. Where did all of it come from? De-icing salts, Kaushal determined, are part of the problem, slowly corroding our infrastructure.
People still use sodium chloride as a deicer? Around here, pretty much all municipalities have switched to calcium chloride, which deices better than sodium chloride, and tends to not kill everone's grass. They'll only use sodium chloride in dire emergencies - IE massive ice storm at the end of the season and there's no calcium chloride to be had, which is pretty rare.
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“The demise of water fleas does not just affect the clarity of the water, but will likely also impact the small fish that feed on them,” Hintz adds. “They provide food for the larger fish that humans eat.”
Conservatives and Republicans, this is why the environment and our ecosystem is important. It's not some "liberal snowflake" luxury. It's about our health and well being.
And why didn't the summary mention that it's also caused by industrial activities? Business needs to take responsibility for their pollution. Because they just dump or whatever and stick us with the costs.
I remember the same discussion back in the 70s. It also hurts pets and damages roads and cars. In Germany many cities have banned the use of thawing salt on roads and sidewalks; some places still allow it but only in extreme weather. Grit is a perfectly viable alternative and the effect lasts much longer.
I mean, they should be able to drive on icy roads, right?
"by 2100, more than half of them may contain at least 50 percent more salt than they used to" - a total meaningless statistic. Are are going from 1 ppb to 2 ppb, which is essentially a non-event, or from 1% to 2%, which would have serious implications? Doubling without giving a baseline and what that baseline represents is just scaremongering.
This is all hyperbole and other than a few random water tests is very weak on facts. Salinity increases are usually caused by droughts.
the poor. You can buy a reverse osmosis filtration system for about $200-$500 bucks per faucet and that should filter out most of the salt.
Also, when it comes to water rural communities have much, much bigger problems. Their pipes are going on 100 years old and nobody wants to pay to replace them. Estimates put it at $750 billion to fix the whole country. I'm surprised nobody on the left is talking about that. All they talk about is roads and bridges. Get that message across and you could snatch the farmlands back from the right wing.
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People still use sodium chloride as a deicer? Around here, pretty much all municipalities have switched to calcium chloride, which deices better than sodium chloride, and tends to not kill everone's grass.
In general it's the chloride that's the problem, not the sodium ion, so CaCl2 is not much better than NaCl for the environment. It does de-ice at a lower temperature, though. https://stormwater.pca.state.m... https://www.oxycalciumchloride...
Given the nature of how water treatment works everyone should be using a reverse osmosis (RO) system for their *drinking* water. .
Whilst I agree, this doesn't help the environment. Birds, ducks, fish etc. don't have the luxury of finding a nice, portable RO system to carry around.
The thing is, in the U.S., we're used to being able to drink the water straight from the tap. Seems only civilized, kinda like having an indoor toilet. It would be a real shame and a giant step backwards to give that up.
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To a degree; OP's point is that you have multiple grades of needs, and the central supply shouldn't really treat all water to the highest requirement. There is also the lead pipe issue in places and a host of other things that really make it a good idea.
Only downside is you waste a lot of water with RO; nice if you can pipe the concentrate stream for something like laundry or at least toilet flushing.