Since 2018, the Izaak Walton League of America has been tackling road salt pollution at its source through the Salt Watch program. Salt Watch aims to raise public awareness about the link between road salt and public health, identify waterways impacted by excessive salt levels, and promote more responsible salting practices by sharing data with private landowners, as well as local and state agencies.

Erie SWCD partnered with the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) during the winter of 2025 to sample 6 streams in Erie County. Volunteers sampled the watersheds at least twice a month for January and February of 2025 to catch the predominant salt use in winter months. In total, volunteers took 70 samples with the results showing salt did not have a significant impact on the local watersheds in 2025. 79% of the samples scored in the good to excellent concentration ranges for chloride. However, the more urbanized areas (Mills and Pipe Creek) had higher amounts of chloride, especially areas with private parking lots. We sampled a location downstream of the mall in Sandusky where 3 of the 4 samples exceeded the toxic concentration of chloride with some samples reading higher than the test can handle.

While salt concentrations may pose a threat to our local freshwater ecosystems, public safety is the main priority for salt application. The complete elimination of salt use may be improbable, but there are some things you can do to help keep our waters fresh. The District promotes Sensible Salting practices and provides resources and education opportunities to encourage environmentally friendly de-icing.