(WKYT) - For today's Good Question, Jamie asks: What is the impact on the environment from spreading thousands of tons of road salt every snow event?
The advantages of road salt are its effectiveness, it's relatively cheap, and there is plenty of it.
However, once that snow and ice melt, that salt and the chemicals it breaks down into have to go somewhere.
According to a New York Times report, use of road salt across the country has tripled in the past 50 years. The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York estimates more than 20 million metric tons of salt are poured on U.S. roads each winter.
The EPA says it's impacting property, infrastructure, and the environment. They estimate the corrosion from road salt leads to approximately $5 billion in annual repairs to cars, trucks, bridges, and roads.
Also, road salt leaches into surface and ground waters and contaminates drinking water reservoirs and wells.
"high sodium levels in drinking water affect people with high blood pressure, and high chloride levels in surface waters are toxic to some fish, bugs, and amphibians."
It can also lead to animals, like deer, coming to the road to lick the salt.
There are alternatives, but they tend to be more expensive and, in some cases, lead to their own problems. Some places use a salt and sand mixture. The issue there is once the ice melts that sand can fill local bodies of water with sediment.
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