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writing:road_salt [2026/04/08 20:40] – external edit 127.0.0.1writing:road_salt [2026/06/25 02:28] (current) – JacobCoffinWrites
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 Once salt gets into the soil, or into a waterway, there really are no biological processes that will remove it. Salt can leave the system through transport and it can be diluted by fresher water coming in so that the levels become less concerning. However, without transport out of the system, like in an isolated lake or aquifer, [[https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/11/road-salt-harms-environment/|the salt will continue to persist over very long time scales.]] Costs of chloride clean ups [[https://saltresponsibly.com/the-problem-with-road-salt/|can run around $300,000,000, a cost that is estimated at 30-40% higher than efforts to protect drinking water in the first place]]. Once salt gets into the soil, or into a waterway, there really are no biological processes that will remove it. Salt can leave the system through transport and it can be diluted by fresher water coming in so that the levels become less concerning. However, without transport out of the system, like in an isolated lake or aquifer, [[https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2018/12/11/road-salt-harms-environment/|the salt will continue to persist over very long time scales.]] Costs of chloride clean ups [[https://saltresponsibly.com/the-problem-with-road-salt/|can run around $300,000,000, a cost that is estimated at 30-40% higher than efforts to protect drinking water in the first place]].
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 +It's also worth noting that chloride-polluted water is denser than freshwater, [which means it can become concentrated at lake bottoms](https://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/road-salt-impacts). "In extreme cases, this can impede the vernal and autumnal vertical turnover of lake waters essential for distributing oxygen and nutrients to aquatic species." 
  
 Essentially, the only real way to remove salt from the environment is to stop adding it and to flush it out with fresh water over time. This won't work in every situation though, some contaminated surface water bodies are endorheric or slow draining and lose most of their water to evaporation, which increases their salinity over time. Similarly, many underground aquifers (which are often tapped for drinking water) are basically at the bottom of their local groundwater topology, making heavy contaminants very difficult to remove. Essentially, the only real way to remove salt from the environment is to stop adding it and to flush it out with fresh water over time. This won't work in every situation though, some contaminated surface water bodies are endorheric or slow draining and lose most of their water to evaporation, which increases their salinity over time. Similarly, many underground aquifers (which are often tapped for drinking water) are basically at the bottom of their local groundwater topology, making heavy contaminants very difficult to remove.