“The hot button for all of us right now, and it’s kind of a conundrum for everybody – the college and the Arboretum – is the use of de-icers,” he said.
The effect of all of this salt on the Arboretum is far-reaching. Baller said a stand of evergreens in the river valley died and it is harmful to aquatic life in the Humber River.
Gary Wilkins, Humber River specialist at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, said he has seen more chloride in the river recently, most of which comes from road salt.
The authority is responsible for managing rivers in the GTA. A report it released on the Humber River last November said chloride is the only conventional pollutant to see an increase in its levels over the past decade.
Road salts have been designated a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Wayne Falls, co-ordinator of site maintenance, said the college has looked into alternatives but the cost of more environmentally friendly products is prohibitive.
“The major concern that we have is providing safety for the students and the staff that use the facilities,” he said.
Baller said part of the problem is that students and staff expect the parking lots to be clear down to the pavement. “There is a whole casket of consequences that flow from that environmentally. It’s a city-wide problem, it’s a region-wide problem, and I don’t think it’s been addressed beyond that.”
Bob Nicholson, a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, said the goal is to minimize the amount of salt needed during the winter and still keep roads safe. “We do realize it has an impact on the environment,” he said.
The province has taken numerous steps to reduce the amount of salt used each winter by inserting electronic controls on spreaders, pre-wetting salt to make it stick to roads better, and pre-treating some roads prior to storms.
http://www.humberetc.com/displayArticle.php?id=499&sid=36
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