Another problem for vital freshwater

 

There are so many dangers to our vital freshwater resources, and cutting back on Environmental Protection Agency funding is not going to help any.  One of the lesser-publicized dangers is increasing salinity.

The Washington Post had an article, linked below, about this issue, and if you don't want to pay to read that, you can read the free one from the National Park Service below it.

A salt crisis is looming for U.S. rivers

Freshwater Salinization: Saltier Rivers Are a Growing Concern

"Streams suffering from salinization often have degraded communities of fish and invertebrates with lower biodiversity where only pollution-tolerant species can survive. This negatively impacts the whole aquatic ecosystem. Aquatic critters such as mayflies (an important food for fish) are sensitive to pollution so are rare in salinized streams. For other organisms, too much salt causes their health to weaken and impairs their survival."

That article is about the Washington D.C. region, and it had this map showing how much salt gets put down in the winter. (It's a lot.) I'm sure a lot gets put down on the eastern side too.