Salt campaign aims to raise awareness

Focus on the detriment of using product on roads

WATERLOO REGION — The Region of Waterloo is launching a new marketing campaign in a bid to continue curbing excessive salt use that’s affecting our water supply.

Signs will be placed at several spots around the region where portions of the property are closed during the winter months, thereby reducing salt use. This could be redundant walkways and stairs or overflow parking.

Visitors and staff may not understand why or find it inconvenient, according to a regional report, and this campaign will use the closed areas as a tool to educate the public.

Participating properties will get signs to display at the closed areas that include information on the program, and a web link and pointers to social media platforms for more information. There will also be an online advertising campaign.

Seven properties across the region are already signed up, including several regionally owned sites, and several others have been approached and will be added over the winter if owners agree to participate.

Coun. Geoff Lorentz questioned the point of the region’s salt reduction efforts at the planning and works committee meeting on Tuesday, where the report was presented.

“The cities and region dump more salt on the roads and sidewalks than anybody else,” he said.

“You see contractors and everybody just oversalting because they’re so worried about liability. So how smart are we really and where are we going with all of this?”

Committee chair Coun. Tom Galloway responded: “OK, who wants to tackle that?”

Thomas Schmidt, the region’s commissioner of transportation and environmental services, said the region has been working on reducing salt use for more than 15 years.

“We have seen significant reductions in the amount of salt that we apply to roads,” Schmidt said.

He said it is possible to reduce the amounts of salt while keeping roads safe for motorists.

“Some of what we see on the private side is truly oversalting,” said Schmidt, adding that sometimes walkways are covered in so much salt it looks like snow.

The region offers education programs to teach contractors about appropriate salt use for winter safety.

“Those that do go through those programs do reduce the amount of salt that they use,” Schmidt said.

Nearly all residents (92 per cent) surveyed believe protecting drinking water sources should be a top priority for the region, the report said. Yet many did not realize salt and “environmentally friendly” de-icers can affect local water sources.

Sodium and chloride concentrations in the region’s drinking water wells are increasing, and the primary source is winter salt as it dissolves and is washed into the waterways or travels underground.

Sodium in some drinking water supplies across the region is above the provincial standard of 20 mg/L. That level triggers notices to doctors to advise patients on salt-restricted diets.

The only way to remove sodium and chloride from water is treatment with reverse osmosis, which is very expensive.

The results of this winter’s campaign will be used to develop a five-year marketing strategy to raise awareness of the impact of winter salt use on the region’s drinking water. This builds on campaigns in previous years.