Why salt is threatening America's rivers and drinking water. Written by Kasha Patel. June 4, 2025. Washington Post. Tall tan grasses known as Phragmites australis are seen along the Anacostia River in Bladensburg, Maryland. These invasive plants, which grow in salty environments, are warning signs of the changing chemistry of the
environment.
Freshwater ecosystems, like the Anacostia River, are growing saltier year-round. That increasing salinity has not only been linked to mass deaths of aquatic life and damaged infrastructure, but some people can even taste it in drinking water.
Too salty to drink. Around the DC metro area, the biggest salt contamination comes in the winter. People apply an abundance of salt on roads – if you can hear it crunch under your feet, it’s too much – and the excess runs off into riverways.
The biggest source around DC and other major northern inland cities is an overapplication of road salt to thaw winter ice, which enters into rivers or the ground, According to sujay kaushal, professor and reseacher at umd and member of the Climate resilience network.
Dr. Sujay Kaushal, a professor and researcher in the Department of Geology at UMD, was featured in the article "Why salt is threatening America's rivers and drinking water," published in the Washington Post on 6/4/25.
