A PROPOSAL TO REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF ROAD SALT USED IN ONTARIO DURING WINTER MONTHS
By Karishma Porwal
School: St. John’s Kilmarnock School
Faculty Advisor: Miss. Jessica P Clough
Word Count (excluding footnotes): 942
Every year Ontario faces harsh winters that bring copious amounts of snowfall and ice. This results in more frequent occurrences of traffic accidents due to the lack of traction on the icy roads. This problem is dealt with by lining the streets with road salt, more commonly known as gritting, which essentially lowers the melting point of the ice and therefore the roads become safer to drive on. This method has been in regular use since the 1920s in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere including the U.S. and the U.K. (amongst many other European countries). Many residents also choose to grit their sidewalks and porches in order to prevent passers-by from slipping. Though it has proved an effective method of handling slippery roads, the dangers of using road salt have recently come to light. …show more content…
This surface run off of road salt is toxic to young fish, plants and even pets . The rate of accumulation of road salt in water bodies is alarmingly high and should not be ignored as 3,600 tons of road salt poisons Frenchman’s Bay, a lagoon in Lake Ontario every year . This water pollution poses a threat to the Grand River and other freshwater bodies in Ontario. Aside from endangering wildlife and freshwater, gritting roads is expensive to any government that makes use of it, with statistics showing that the City of Toronto spends around 10 million dollars every year on gritting salt
By Karishma Porwal
School: St. John’s Kilmarnock School
Faculty Advisor: Miss. Jessica P Clough
Word Count (excluding footnotes): 942
Every year Ontario faces harsh winters that bring copious amounts of snowfall and ice. This results in more frequent occurrences of traffic accidents due to the lack of traction on the icy roads. This problem is dealt with by lining the streets with road salt, more commonly known as gritting, which essentially lowers the melting point of the ice and therefore the roads become safer to drive on. This method has been in regular use since the 1920s in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere including the U.S. and the U.K. (amongst many other European countries). Many residents also choose to grit their sidewalks and porches in order to prevent passers-by from slipping. Though it has proved an effective method of handling slippery roads, the dangers of using road salt have recently come to light. …show more content…
This surface run off of road salt is toxic to young fish, plants and even pets . The rate of accumulation of road salt in water bodies is alarmingly high and should not be ignored as 3,600 tons of road salt poisons Frenchman’s Bay, a lagoon in Lake Ontario every year . This water pollution poses a threat to the Grand River and other freshwater bodies in Ontario. Aside from endangering wildlife and freshwater, gritting roads is expensive to any government that makes use of it, with statistics showing that the City of Toronto spends around 10 million dollars every year on gritting salt