Nearly 40,000 metric tons of chloride, mostly from road salt, washes down the Winooski River every year 鈥� equal to the weight of about 40,000 black rhinos. That鈥檚 nearly double the amount recorded in the early 鈥�90s, , according to the latest report from the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
Next year, water quality advocates will once again call on Vermont lawmakers to establish a program to cut down on the use of road salt on private and municipal land, which they say is a .
Reducing pollution from chloride is one of several priorities for the Vermont Citizens Advisory Committee on Lake Champlain鈥檚 Future, which at a meeting this week in Shelburne.
鈥淪alt鈥檚 very expensive, so there鈥檚 ways out there where you can use the minimal amount available and still achieve that safety that you need with it, but not do as much harm to aquatic resources, or to infrastructure, or the bottom of your car,鈥� Jared Carpenter, with the nonprofit the Lake Champlain Committee, said at the meeting.
He鈥檚 been working on a policy measure to incentivize businesses with large parking lots, town road crews and residents to use less road salt, modeled off . While the Agency of Transportation has decreased their road salt use in recent years, Carpenter said commercial and municipal applicators often don鈥檛 have the same .
The citizens advisory group is also urging lawmakers to invest in continuous aquatic invasive species management; flood mitigation measures like enlarging culverts, removing dams, and restoring wetlands; and public access to the lake.
Jennifer Lawson, now the manager of the Charlotte Town Beach, remembers how easy it was to access the lake growing up in Shelburne. 鈥淭here was a beach bus,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e would get dropped off down at the beach, spend the day at the beach 鈥� they had lifeguards, swimming lessons 鈥� and then they would drive us back home.鈥�
She鈥檚 not sure a beach bus would work today. But she thinks there should be more ways for young people to access the water that鈥檚 not expensive or a burden on caregivers.
鈥淚 hate to think of the lake as becoming elite.鈥�
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