Many Toronto-area streams are getting saltier and road salt is mostly to blame, conservation experts suggest
Crunching under toe, tire and tread, road salt is used to melt ice and snow for safer surfaces, but recent data shows some Toronto creeks and streams are becoming much saltier, posing risks to aquatic life — and salting may be the culprit.
The 2024 data, shared with CBC Toronto by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, shows chloride concentrations in many waterways have been increasing since at least 2015, with Etobicoke Creek and the Don River being among the saltiest.
“We look kind of longer term, and what we’re seeing is that of the 47 stations across our jurisdiction, 36 of them are showing increasing trends in chloride over time,” said Lyndsay Cartwright, a research scientist with the TRCA.
“And that’s a big concern.”
Too much salt can be toxic for fresh water life, and many Greater Toronto Area waterways are over the safe limit, according to the data.
Some samples saltier than ocean water, says expert
The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has guidelines for how salty freshwater can be before it becomes a problem for living organisms. It all comes down to the chloride part of salt. At 120 mg/L of chloride, long-term exposure can cause issues. Past that, things become dire.
“When you hit 640 mg/L, species die,” said Claire Oswald, Associate Professor of Geography and Environmental Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“Different aquatic species are going to have different tolerances to chloride, but a lot of the more sensitive ones will die,” she said.
Oswald says most of the salt used for winter maintenance works its way through waterways and ends up flushed into the ocean. But, she says, some salt gets stuck in soil and in underground water sources, moving slower through the ecosystem, making salt concentrations a year-round issue.
And that ground water can be well above the safe limits.
Oswald says her team measured water running off one Mississauga parking lot that had been salted.
“That was over 50,000 mg/L before it went into the sewers and got spit out into the stream,” she said.
“It’s saltier than ocean water,” she added, which has a concentration of around 19,250 mg/L of chloride, according to the CCME guidelines for chloride for the protection of aquatic life.
In Toronto, Oswald says her team recently tested soil water next to a road, measuring over 48,000 mg/L of chloride, which she calls “even more shocking” because of how long it will take to work itself through the system.
Overall the numbers are trending up, according to the TRCA. Parts of the Don River hit 7,560 mg/L, Etobicoke Creek peaked at 10,100 mg/L this past year, with waterways, on average, at their highest chloride concentrations in five years according to the TRCA data.
City says it uses special equipment to measure salt use
Oswald says her team has been working to find a fix, and it’s to put down less salt.
“Really we need to put down less so we have to change public expectations,” she said.
The City of Toronto has a salt management plan to reduce the amount it uses, writing on its website: “The City is aware of the risks of road salt to the environment.”
Vincent Sferrazza, Director of Operations and Maintenance at the city, says crews have specialized equipment to measure how much salt they are throwing, calibrated and checked weekly. He said the city’s plan was “reviewed by academics” and “found to be very effective.”
“In some cases it may be a situation of maybe not the city, but other salt appliers, such as the private sector — such as landscapers or other companies,” Sferrazza said. “I can’t speak on their behalf. I can only say that we at the City of Toronto are very diligent with respect to salt management application.”
Contractors, businesses worry about lawsuits
Jon Agg, Owner of Pristine Property Maintenance Limited, says his company has hundreds of maintenance contracts across Ontario and the GTA.
He says his company tries to use less salt because they care about the environment. It also saves them money. A set cost for salt is often included in the contracts, so throwing down extra comes out of his pocket.
His workers are trained in a program called Smart About Salt, started by the University of Waterloo, which he says taught them about the impacts oversalting has on things like waterways and infrastructure.
Like the city, Agg’s company also uses specialized equipment to measure exactly how much salt workers are throwing on the ground. But he says the risk of lawsuits makes them oversalt for the sake of the business.
“We’re salting so much because of liability,” he said.
“The biggest issue with my industry right now is the liability insurance: the cost of adjusters, the cost of legal, the cost of paying deductibles, the cost of paying settlements. Overall, that’s about 10 per cent of the income we bring in, which is insane.
“It’s becoming unsustainable.”
Agg says sometimes the owners of the properties themselves are asking for more salt than is needed to feel more safe.
“We’ve had condominiums and commercial buildings tell us, ‘I want to see grains of salt at all times on my property,'” he said. “That’s over-salting. If you’re salting the right amount, you shouldn’t actually see salt.”
“I think as a society we’ve got this idea that more salt means safer, which is not true.”
Calls for a provincial standard
Agg is one of about 7,000 winter maintenance contractors represented by Landscape Ontario. Together, they are lobbying the Ontario government to provide protection for operators like him.
He says today, contractors assume all the risk when they sign on to maintain a property. If someone falls, they are open to getting sued.
Instead, Agg says his industry wants to work with researchers to create a standard for how much salt is the right amount to use for safety and the environment — tracked by the calibrated equipment and overseen by a government agency. If workers met that standard, they would be safe from lawsuits.
The province has not yet replied to a request for comment.
“Our hope is, if we can get that standard recognized by the province, that we can actually get somewhere,” Agg said.
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