Help make Ontario’s waterways #LessSalty

Road salt doesn’t disappear when the ice melts, says Environment Canada, and can run into freshwater river and lakes. Taylor Simmons/CBC

From Environmental Defence 

Every winter in Ontario, road salt is applied to our streets, sidewalks, and parking lots to prevent slips, falls and accidents. But we’re using way more than what is needed to keep us safe, and it’s putting our environment at-risk.

Excess road salt washes off our sidewalks and roads into storm drains and eventually our lakes and rivers. Recent studies and monitoring have found salt concentrations in some GTA rivers and creeks to be as high as sea water. Freshwater species can’t survive in water this salty.

We must be #LessSalty to protect our freshwater.

Applying huge piles of salt to our public spaces is wasteful and unnecessary, harmful to the environment, and damaging to infrastructure. Studies show we can balance safety and the environment by being #Less Salty. It takes less than a cup of salt to melt ice on a metre of pavement. When it comes to road salt, less is more.

Action is needed to keep damaging road salt out of our waterways.

Sign the petition and tell Ontario be #LessSalty

Your message will be sent to:
Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks Hon. Jeff Yurek
Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Ms. Andrea Khanjin