It doesn't just disappear. The salt we use every winter — more than 525,000 tons of it in Wisconsin — washes into our lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands, putting aquatic life at risk and endangering our freshwater resources.
“It goes into the lake. It finds its way into groundwater,” says Madison Water Utility water quality manager Joe Grande. “We want our parking lots and streets cleared, but we don’t think about the impact that it has.”The impact on Madison’s drinking water is becoming hard to ignore. Road salt is made up of two chemicals, sodium and chloride. Both are now showing up
