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Can I put salt on my sidewalk or paths to get rid of ice? If not, why not? What alternatives work best?
–Mark
Dear Mark,
Two decades ago, Mr. Dot and I bought a house in which to raise our Baby Dots, and it came with a concrete swimming pool. We’d never had a pool and, though we hadn’t sought one, we and the three Baby Dots were excited.
We began by installing a salt-water system to reduce the chemicals required to keep the water swimmable. Over the next few years, however, the concrete bottom of our pool was getting rough enough that the soles of the Baby Dots’ feet became raw. Of course, we should have known that salt is corrosive, but some of us discover these things the hard way, such as when we use salt to de-ice our walkways, sidewalks, and roads. In addition to making for rough surfaces, road salt gets washed into wells, wastewater systems, and our soil, rivers, lakes, and ponds. A New York Times story tells us that road salt “has killed or endangered wildlife in freshwater ecosystems, with high chloride levels toxic to fish, bugs, and amphibians, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Salt is also tough on the paws of our pets and other wildlife, leading to chapping, cracking, dryness, even burning.
So it’s a big, salty “no!” to road salt.
What are forward-thinking municipalities using instead? And what can you use on your walkways? Keep reading.
