(File Photo: Source for Photo: A truck drives past a highway sign Monday, Feb. 15, 2021, in Houston. A frigid blast of winter weather across the U.S. plunged Texas into an unusually icy emergency Monday that knocked out power to more than 2 million people and shut down grocery stores and dangerously snowy roads. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Harrisburg, PA) Just like overindulging in salt is bad for your health, so too is the excessive use of road salt on the environment. Since 2020, PennDOT reports applying nearly 600-thousand tons of salt to icy roads. Harry Campbell with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation says research by the U-S Geological Survey has found streams throughout the nation are getting saltier, by almost 40-percent. Campbell says that salty runoff is harming freshwater aquatic creatures – and points out that a single teaspoon of rock salt can pollute five gallons of fresh water. Campbell highlights Winter Salt Awareness Week – which starts January 27th – as a national effort to educate people about the environmental impacts of using road salt and promote safer alternatives. He says it’s a chance for Pennsylvanians to learn better techniques for deicing roads, bridges, sidewalks and parking lots.