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The city has used about 50% more salt than a typical year on Ottawa’s streets and sidewalks.
So far this winter, 220,000 tonnes of salt was dumped on the city’s 5,500 km of roads.
During an average winter, the city uses 150,000 tonnes of salt. Because of the amount of snow and precipitation this year, the city had to use more, said city spokesman Eric Collard.
The city has been trying to minimize the amount of salt dumped on roads and sidewalks by using electronically controlled application methods, Collard added. According to the city website, they are also exploring alternative methods to salting.
Recently, workers have been pouring a sand and salt mixture along the streets because of a salt shortage.
All this salt could have a big impact on the city’s waterways, environmentalists caution.
The amount of salt being poured onto the roads could cause severe chemistry changes in some of the smaller tributary streams around the area, an official with Ottawa Riverkeeper said yesterday.
“Some organisms can’t live with a high content of salt in the water,” said Meredith Brown, executive director of the environmental organization.
However, the amount of snow that’s been dumped on the city could dilute the amount of salt entering the streams, said Patrick Larson, senior resources water technician with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.
“The data we have shows a slight increase in the concentration of salt in the water, but it hasn’t reached toxic levels,” Larson said
TOXIC SHOCK
Sun Media reported this week the amount of road salt that’s been dumped on streets and sidewalks in Toronto will cause a toxic shock that will turn Hogtown’s waterways into something closer to ocean-like salt water.
So far, 125,000 tonnes of salt has been used in Toronto and that’s with less snow than Ottawa. Toronto has received about 189 cm of snow so far this winter, far less than Ottawa’s 410 cm.
Ottawa Sun