ESSIC associate professor Sujay Kaushal is the lead author of a new study about increasing salt in North American waterways. Land-based salt use, such as on farms and roads, runs into natural waters, threatening ecosystems and drinking water supplies. The new study, published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, uses data from the past 50 years to indicate significant increases in freshwater salinity and pH. It is the first to reveal long-term changes. University of Maryland graduate student Shahan Haq, former graduate students Julia Gorman and Ryan Utz, and former faculty research assistant Melissa Grese also contributed to the report.
In this video, Kaushal explains the research as well as ways that the issue can be addressed.
The Washington Post, the Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Bloomberg and Reuters have reported on the study.
