Delaware County Needs Help Measuring Salt in Streams

The “Fall Salt Snapshot” is being measured from October 1–15 this year in Avondale, Pennsylvania. The Stroud Water Research Center is trying to determine how salinized the area’s waterways are outside of winter, when road salt is most prevalent. David Bressler, who leads community science initiatives at Stroud, says bringing in outside help gives them more access to crucial data. “You need actual people to go out to streams and collect samples. There’s a big time component involved that is simply about the logistics of moving around the landscape and getting into the stream, or lowering a bucket from a bridge.” He says accessing waterways, collecting samples, and measuring results takes resources the Stroud Center wouldn’t otherwise have.

Some areas are in particular need of volunteers, but measurements from all over are being sought. A notice sent out in July by Bressler was addressed to the “stream monitoring community in PA, DE, NJ, MD, and NY” and reads:

“The Stroud Center is planning this community science stream monitoring event to characterize salt pollution levels and patterns in streams and rivers to better understand the accumulation of road salt across a wide variety of landscapes. The primary goal of this effort is to generate the best data possible to illustrate the year-round presence of road salt contamination in our watersheds and use these data to help start local conversations and bring the pervasive salt pollution issue more into the public eye. Road salt is an especially local issue because private applicators and municipalities are major sources of road salt, and this means that local data are important—if not vital—in this conversation.”

More information about the science and how to get involved can be found here.

Photo Credit: Winter Salt Week Sampling 1/30/2025, Photo by Wendi Wu via Flickr

Correction: An earlier version of this story said Stroud is in Delaware County. It’s based in Chester County but Delaware County is one of the areas they are collecting data.