January 30, 2015, Friday - Mississippi River Forum: "Hold the Salt, Please: Chloride Pollution in our Waters"
Time: 8:00am-9:30am
Location: McKnight Foundation, 710 2nd Street S, Suite 400
Happy winter, Minnesota! We seem to love (hate?) our extreme weather here, and our public works crews make it possible even to bicycle through the nastiest of wintry conditions. But many Minnesotans don't realize that road and sidewalk salt is polluting our waters. When snow and ice melt from roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, the salt we apply to those surfaces goes with them, washing into our lakes, streams, wetlands, and groundwater. It takes only one teaspoon of road salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water. Once in the water, there is no way to remove the chloride that comes from salt; at high concentrations, chloride can harm fish and plant life.
This event is free but please RSVP to lark_weller@nps.gov.
The Mississippi River Forum seeks to increase coordination between a multidisciplinary group of water resources practitioners and decision-makers. The Forum is also an opportunity for practitioners to connect their work to those in different fields who also impact the quality of the river.