Salt monitoring programs shows that effects are felt long after snow events

Volunteers testing creeks in the Little Falls watershed found that although salt readings in area creeks spiked to toxic levels after snow storms, they did not always return to safe levels after the events. Since November 2021, trained LFWA volunteers have tested 8 sites along the Minnehaha, Little Falls and Willett Branch creeks before and after snow storms as well as once a month in the warmer months. Two of the sites along the Little Falls Branch exceeded the threshold that freshwater aquatic life can tolerate over a period of three years even when there was recent storm. Only two sites consistently returned to safe levels after a storm.

Read our report on the state of Salt in the watershed HERE.

The most up-to-date readings can be found HERE along with information about our salt testing program.

Thank you to Woody Stanley and our salt volunteers for their hard work on documenting the problem of road salt in the watershed.