Editor,
Our recent cold weather has illustrated just how extensive and often excessive our use of road salt has become.
This common de-icer is now understood to be an environmental poison, toxic to the fresh water food chain as well as to other creatures, and its use is as much a matter of profit as one of public safety. Contractors employed by stratas and commercial properties for snow clearing usually insist on salting as part of the contract, and they, not their customers, get to determine how often they dump salt. Two years ago, our strata paid $325 every time the contractor salted our modest property, and when we challenged the overall fee, they even lied about the number of freezing days that White Rock had experienced that winter.
The amount of salt being dumped, by contractors as well as by Surrey and White Rock, is obscene; often far more than necessary to keep things safe. It seems to be getting worse each year, even with our growing awareness of the harm it does.
I’m not arguing that public safety shouldn’t be addressed, but our strata now does its own clearing and salting, and we don’t use more than the minimum necessary, and only when required.
We don’t allow people to pour paint or chemicals down the drains; we should apply the same consciousness to limiting the amount of toxic salt that gets flushed off asphalt and concrete.
Neil Fawcett, White Rock
