Committee directs City of Ottawa staff to review road salt use

The City of Ottawa is being asked to review its salt use on roads and sidewalks during the winter months.

The Environment and Climate Change Committee approved a motion from Coun. Rawlson King directing staff to conduct a “focused review of Ottawa’s road salt use,” with an emphasis on its environmental impact and its effect on local waterways.

“I want to be clear here, this motion is not about eliminating the use of road salt,” King said during Tuesday’s meeting. “As a winter city, it’s firstly about fact finding so as a city we can ensure the right balance between maintaining public safety and protecting our environment.”

City of Ottawa crews prepare for a winter storm on Thursday. Approximately 500 pieces of equipment are available to be deployed, including salt trucks, sidewalk plows and loaders. (Peter Szperling/CTV News Ottawa)

Some residents complained through the winter about too much road salt on sidewalks and at OC Transpo stops. Ecology Ottawa called for a review of salt-use practices, showing photos of excessive salt through the winter during Tuesday’s city committee meeting.

“We could accomplish a lot simply by following basic standards,” William van Geest, executive director of Ecology Ottawa, told councillors.

Van Geest points out the Ottawa Riverkeeper found the City of Gatineau is using two-thirds less salt than Ottawa through the winter.

King’s motion directs the Public Works department to report back to the committee on the measures to ensure “salt application aligns with environmental and climate change considerations” while maintaining safety during the snow and ice storms in the winter.

King’s motion also recommends the city report back on any assessments conducted on the environmental impact of salt use levels and the methods used to monitor the impact of road salt on waterways. Staff are also being asked to report back on the feasibility of incorporating road salt management into the Ottawa River Action Plan.

Salt on a landing on the stairs at the Hurdman LRT station. Jan. 24, 2025. (Ted Raymond/CTV News Ottawa)

Coun. Tim Tierney says OC Transpo and private companies need to go on a salt diet.

“I’m looking forward to a salt management practice; what we do on our city streets, our city roads,” Tierney said, noting Ottawa does use salt and grit on the roads. “We actually do have pretty strict practices for what we do in our wheelhouse, the Public Works wheelhouse, but I think our friends at OC have to clean up and, certainly, private properties.”

The Ottawa Riverkeeper is urging the City of Ottawa and other municipalities to identify areas to restrict the use of road salt, after a study found high levels of chloride in water samples that are harming aquatic wildlife and the environment across the national capital region.

Chloride is a key component of road salt.

According to a report released in January by the Ottawa Riverkeeper, between the winters of 2019-2020 and 2023-24, community scientists collected more than 500 water samples at 45 different locations across Ottawa and Gatineau. The report says only 10 per cent of samples were below the safe level for chloride, while 45 per cent exceeded the threshold for “acute toxicity.”

The report recommends municipalities identify areas to restrict the application of road salt and develop and regularly update its Road Salt Management Plan.