The Penn State Master Watershed Stewards took part in a winter salt stream snapshot during Winter Salt Week 2025, a multi-state effort to raise awareness about the harmful impacts of excessive salt and deicing chemicals used on roads, sidewalks, and parking lots.

On January 31, 2025, Master Watershed Stewards in York, Chester, Delaware, and Berks Counties took part in a one-day stream sampling event in partnership with Stroud Water Research Center.

Over 300 volunteers from thirty organizations collected 600 stream samples and tested them for specific conductivity and chlorides, both indicators of salt pollution.

Volunteers uploaded test results into a database, which Stroud scientists analyzed. Results show salt concentrations at the various sights.

According to Stroud scientists, the results are alarming and indicate an urgent need to address winter salt use.

Seventy percent of the stream sites exceeded one or more safe limits. You can find the link to the results at Winter Salt Stream Snapshot Data - Results Map.

Why is this research necessary?

The use of road salt and deicing chemicals has increased significantly in recent decades. According to the Izaak Walton League of America, between 20-30 million tons of road salts are applied to roadways annually in the United States.

Road salts and deicing chemicals help eliminate ice on roadways, keeping communities safe. However, there is room for improvement regarding salt application.

Too much road salt applied in our communities pollutes freshwater ecosystems harming wildlife, contaminating drinking water, and damaging infrastructure.

Wildlife

Salt runoff harms aquatic life and can make sensitive aquatic insects and amphibians disappear, altering freshwater ecosystems. Chlorides can also deplete oxygen levels in water, damaging fish and other aquatic life.

Birds and other animals may ingest salt, causing poisoning and exposure to heavy metals and additives in the salt. The attraction to the salt can also cause wildlife to get hit by automobiles.

Drinking water

Salt in drinking water is difficult to remove. Installing and maintaining reverse osmosis treatment can be a solution, but it is costly. Chlorides are also corrosive and can cause corrosion and damage drinking water infrastructure, including home pipes.

Infrastructure

Salt is corrosive and is damaging to vehicles, roads, bridges, and stormwater infrastructure. The costs and damages impact everyone living in a community.

What can you do?

-- Help with the research and request a kit to test for chlorides in a stream, lake, or river.

-- Be proactive and watch the weather. Treat before the ice forms.

-- Plow, shovel, blow, or sweep snow before salting. Follow instructions and calibrate your equipment to apply the necessary amounts.

-- Use less salt. More is not better. It needs space to work effectively. Only use what you need and clean up excess salt.

-- Use traction like sand (use sparingly not to clog storm drains) or birdseed. Wear boots with good traction.

-- Educate others about the impacts and encourage them to "cut the salt."

Freshwater ecosystems, such as streams, rivers, lakes, ponds, and vernal pools, are not meant to be salty.

Everyone can do their part by raising awareness, decreasing salt applications, and using alternative deicing methods to help protect freshwater resources.

To learn more about excessive salt use and stream health, visit Winter Salt and Fresh Water and Environmental Hazards of Road Salt.

Reference Links:

-- Penn State Extension: Road Salt Pollution - Moving From Monitoring To Action

-- Izaak Walton League of America. 2025 Salt Watch.

-- Penn State Extension. Mansberger, J. 2023. Environmental Hazards of Road Salt.

-- Stroud Water Research Center. 2025. Winter Salt and Fresh Water

Click Here for this Penn State Extension article.

Visit the Penn State Extension website to learn more about many other educational opportunities.

Action Item

-- Private Well Owners Needed For Dept. Of Health Focus Group

Related Extension Articles:

-- PA Master Well Owner Network, Penn State Extension Updates Online Drinking Water Results Interpretation Tool [PaEN]

-- Registration Open! Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium May 6-7 In Harrisburg [PaEN]

-- Master Watershed Stewards Take Part In Winter Salt Stream Snapshot [PaEN]

-- Rain Barrel Kits Now Available At Select Master Watershed Steward Program Offices [PaEN]

-- Preserving The Farming Legacy With Agricultural Conservation Assistance Program

-- Strategies For Preventing Algae, Aquatic Plant Problems In Farm Ponds

-- Showcase Your Skills At Water Resources Educator Dive Deeper Summit Sept. 25

-- February Celebrates World Wetlands Day

(Reprinted from the latest Watershed Winds newsletter from Penn State Extension.  Click Here to sign up for your own copy (bottom of the page.)

Upcoming Extension Events

March 3-- Penn State Extension Ag Water Series Webinar: Practices To Mitigate Flooding & Drought.  Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 4-- Penn State Extension Webinar On Residential Stormwater Solutions - Rainwater Catchment Systems. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 5-- Penn State Extension Woods In Your Backyard Series (Part 8 of 9)  - Converting Lawns to Natural Areas (Meadows and Woods). 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

March 6-- Penn State Extension Hosts Lawn To Meadow Conversions Webinar. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 10-- Penn State Extension Ag Water Series Webinar: Tile Drainage In Pennsylvania. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 11-- Penn State Extension (7 of 10) Pennsylvania Forests Webinar Seminar Series - Hazard Tree Analysis.  Noon and 7:00 p.m.

March 11-- Penn State Extension Webinar On Lawn Care For Clean Water.  Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 12-- Penn State Extension Woods In Your Backyard Series (Part 9 of 9)  - Putting Your Knowledge To Work - What’s Your Plan?  Map it Out. 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

March 13-- DCNR, Penn State Extension Forest Health, Insect, Disease Update Webinar, 8:30 to 11:00 a.m.

March 17-- Penn State Extension Ag Water Series Webinar: Where Does Water Go?  Watersheds & Mapping. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 19-- Penn State Extension Hosts Webinar On Green Infrastructure's Many Functions.  Noon to 1:00 p.m. 

March 19-- Penn State Extension Pond Management Series (1 of 4). Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 24-- Penn State Extension Ag Water Series Webinar: Countywide Clean Water Plans - Beyond 2025. Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 26-- Penn State Extension Pond Management Series (2 of 4). Noon to 1:00 p.m.

March 29-- Penn State Extension In-Person Rain Barrel Discovery Workshop, Lebanon County 11:00 to Noon

April 1-3-- Penn State ACAP Ag Conservation Con 2025 - Harrisburg

April 2-- Penn State Extension Pond Management Series (3 of 4). Noon to 1:00 p.m.

April 8--  Penn State Extension (8 of 10) Pennsylvania Forests Webinar Seminar Series - Forest Resilience Scorecard for PA.  Noon and 7:00 p.m.

April 9-- Penn State Extension Pond Management Series (4 of 4). Noon to 1:00 p.m.

April 21-- Penn State Extension In-Person Private Water Supply Education, Water Testing Workshop, Carlisle, Cumberland County, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.

April 28, April 29-- Penn State Extension, PA Sea Grant In-Person Educator Workshops On Watershed Literacy & Tree Plantings In Lancaster County

May 6-7-- Pennsylvania Groundwater Symposium, Harrisburg

May 13-- Penn State Extension (9 of 10) Pennsylvania Forests Webinar Seminar Series - Tree Nuts in Pennsylvania.  Noon and 7:00 p.m.

May 13-15-- Save the Date: DCNR Watershed Forestry Summit

June 10-- Penn State Extension (10 of 10) Pennsylvania Forests Webinar Seminar Series - The Use of Slash Walls to Exclude Deer and Regenerate Native Forest Tree Species.  Noon and 7:00 p.m.

September 25-- Penn State Extension Dive Deeper Summit For Water Educators

3/3/2025