Scientists: Slushy snowmelt isn’t just a nuisance

Slushy snowmelt isn’t just a nuisance, scientists say. It can send a toxic flood of road salt, sand and car exhaust, as well as dog poop, into rivers and streams, 

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine's Yevgen Nazarenko, PhD, assistant professor of environmental and industrial hygiene in the Department of Environmental and Public Health Sciences, recently told The New York Times that research has shined a light on how pollution from all sorts of vehicles — planes, cars, trucks — can get trapped in the snow.

“Snow has a very large surface area that’s in contact with the air, and so it scrubs up all the pollution,” said Nazarenko. “We also found that when sunlight shines, it changes the chemical identities of many of those compounds.”

In a less snowy environment, the exhaust pollution is usually carried away by the wind, he said. “But snow traps a lot of that pollution within the snowpack, so it just completely changes the dynamics” of where it ends up.

Scientists said snow is also super absorbent. It even absorbs noise, which is why a snowy morning can feel quiet. Like a giant chemical sponge, it can absorb or carry pollution, including road salt, car exhaust, soot, rubber particles from car tires, antifreeze and other automotive fuels that can contain heavy metals and pet waste.

Melting snow can trigger a major pulse of water that washes into rivers and streams, similar to what happens after a significant storm. What’s different with snow is that pollutants in the snowpack are released suddenly, when the snow melts, sending a concentration of contaminants downstream. 

That can overwhelm the streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands that normally help clean water by removing pollutants. The influx of road salt can also kill organisms and microbes that would ordinarily help clean the water. Salt can also leach nutrients and metals from the soil, carrying even more pollutants downstream.

Read about potential solutions in The New York Times.

Featured image at top: A dirty, polluted pile of snow on the side of a roadway. Photo/iStock/iiievgeniy.