Read more about how salt impacts local streams in the Salty Waters story map below.Dave Schwartz is an 18-year resident of Delaware County and has lived in Haverford Township since 2010. We are currently exploring funding opportunities to expand our monitoring work with Dr. Check out the station’s webpage on Stroud Water Research Center’s Monitor My Watershed to see real time changes. In local streams, conductivity increases are directly correlated with salt increases, so conductivity is a useful indicator of stream health. The station includes a conductivity logger, which measures the ions in the water. To track salt levels, the Conservancy installed a stream monitoring station in Vine Creek along the Cynwyd Heritage Trail. We encourage private residents and commercial property managers to minimize salt use. Goldsmith studied, salt from impervious surfaces on private and commercial properties (parking lots, driveways, sidewalks) accounted for as much or more of the salinity levels in streams than salt from roads. Goldsmith’s study here or view his webinar here to learn more. The Conservancy is working with the Lower Merion EAC to convince Lower Merion Township to switch from rock salt to brine. Goldsmith’s research shows that we can meaningfully lower salt levels in streams using existing technology and better practices. Salt alternatives – whether in the form of a different de-icing substance, roads made of materials that could melt ice, or another developing technology – would be ideal solutions, but Dr. Steven Goldsmith of the Department of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University found that municipalities who use brine instead of rock salt reduce salt levels in streams by 20-40%. In Philadelphia, directly downstream from many Lower Merion streams, salt levels in drinking water can reach problematic levels.Ī recently published study led by Dr. Filtering salt out of water is energy intensive, so salt from roads ends up in downstream drinking water supplies. Salt in streams can impact human health as well. High salt levels after winter storms (or preparation for winter storms that never come) can kill fish and other aquatic wildlife. De-icing salts are among the biggest threats to local waterways.
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