De-Icers: Too Much of a Good Thing?

Making a Difference in the Health of Your Rouge River

So far this fall and winter, we’ve had unusually low levels of snow. Even so, we’re likely to see snowflakes soon, and we want to be prepared for any accumulation. 

De-icers are an important product we use to keep our roadways and sidewalks safe, but they are also harming our Rouge River and the life in it. Just like everything else, that salty water makes its way – directly or indirectly through storm drains – to the river. 

Our Friends of the Rouge monitoring team has been testing for salt (chloride) levels since 2020. From the FOTR Fall Bug Hunt report, “seven sites had toxic levels of chloride.” Chloride de-icing salts, including pet-friendly salts, harm or kill important aquatic life in our Rouge River – bugs and fish both.

You can make a difference on the health of your hometown river! Here are some ways to maximize safety while minimizing the negative impact of de-icers polluting our watershed.

• Remove the snow before it forms ice
• Minimize the width of salted areas, and avoid salting paths that are not commonly used
• Sprinkle clay kitty litter instead of salt wherever possible
• Spray (or sprinkle lightly from a watering can) a mixture of half vinegar, half water to melt the ice
• Support local and national efforts to minimize the use of road salt. For example, the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) have been modifying their practices over two decades to reduce salt usage and maximize efficiency. MDOT is now in a 5-year pilot study to try a liquid salt brine to treat roadways, as Wisconsin is already doing now. 
• Spread the word about our need to reduce the use of de-icers:
  • Share this information with friends and neighbors
  • Write a letter to your favorite publication, sharing this information with readers
  • Ask your municipality’s city council and local road maintenance services what they are doing to minimize excessive road salt use
• For more information, check out these links:
  • Road Salt and Eco-Friendly Alternatives With Sally Petrella from Friends of the Rouge!
  • Low-Cost Homemade De-Icer- It’s easy and works! Start at 1:12 for the recipe, then go to 7:58 for the results (We at Friends of the Rouge haven’t tested this yet!)
  • ASK US ANYTHING – What alternatives for road salt are being tested? The future of de-icing for municipalities, departments of transportation, and others? 
  • Salinisation of rivers: an urgent ecological issue 

With good measures of education, care, and caution, we can reduce the amount of salt going from our pavement into our Rouge River.