Water Utility

Madison Water Utility is reminding people to protect our lakes, rivers, streams and drinking water by using less salt this winter. Starting today, the first ever WI Salt Awareness Week will showcase best practices for responsible salt use during a series of daily livestreams. The week features experts from a variety of fields detailing the impacts of salt overuse, from degrading our freshwater resources to corrosion of roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

Madison Water Utility Public Information Officer Amy Barrilleaux will speak during Wednesday’s session about the impact road salt is having on the quality of Madison’s drinking water. Madison Water Utility has seen signs of salt infiltration at five of the city’s 23 municipal wells.

“If we don’t reduce the amount of salt reaching those wells, the water at one of them could actually start to taste salty within the next 15 years. Two others within the next 40 years,” Barrilleaux says. “It’s important to understand that once you put salt down, it doesn’t just go away. It harms our freshwater eco-systems and can even make its way into the aquifer below our feet that supplies all of the city’s drinking water.”

About half of the road salt used in Madison is put down on sidewalks, driveways and parking lots. This week property managers can attend a virtual Smart Salting Training on Thursday, Jan. 14, to learn the right way to use salt while keeping parking lots safe.

Madison Water Utility is a proud member of the WI Salt Wise partnership, a coalition of organizations working together to reduce salt pollution in our lakes, streams and drinking water. Learn more at www.wisaltwise.com.