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DEC's "Don't Be Salty, New York" Campaign
Helps Promote Best Practices to Keep New Yorkers Safe and Waters Protected
Published: December 08, 2025
at 04:00 p.m.
By: Press Release
from NYS DEC
DEC's "Don't Be Salty, New York" Campaign
Helps Promote Best Practices to Keep New Yorkers Safe and Waters Protected
New Yorkers Encouraged to Reduce Rock Salt Use to
Help Reduce Pollution of Waterways and Drinking Water Supplies
New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton
today joined State and local officials to encourage New Yorkers to reduce
the overuse of rock salt when possible, and “Don’t Be Salty, New York.”
Although applying rock salt on roadways, parking lots, and sidewalks helps
to ensure the safety of those traveling by vehicle or foot, overuse of salt
can be costly for consumers, degrade infrastructure, contaminate runoff
that enters streams and waterbodies, and impact drinking water.
“It only takes
one teaspoon of salt to pollute five gallons of water,” Commissioner
Lefton said. “We’re asking all New Yorkers to take common-sense
precautions before using too much rock salt on their sidewalks, driveways,
and other places around their homes and businesses to help prevent
unknowingly harming our environment. ‘Don’t Be Salty’ and help save your
money, remain safe, and protect our waterbodies.”
To help protect
water quality while maintaining public safety, DEC launched the “Don’t Be
Salty, New York” public awareness campaign to help educate property owners,
managers, communities, and snow and ice removal professionals about the
impacts of rock salt and the various strategies that can be implemented to
reduce salt use.
Consistent with a
recommendation in the 2023 Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force
report, DEC conducted a public survey in 2024 to better understand
perceptions surrounding rock salt usage and make appropriate
recommendations for reduction strategies to be applied throughout New York.
Working with ADK Action’s “Clean Water Safe Roads” campaign, DEC developed
the State’s multimedia campaign to expand beyond Adirondack communities and
reach all New Yorkers.
In addition to
increasing public awareness, DEC coordinates with colleagues at the New
York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the New York State
Department of Health to ensure New York’s salt reduction priorities are
incorporated and considered within agency programs. State agencies
collaborate to align the work of programs and coordinate outreach and
mitigation efforts.
In August 2025,
NYSDOT announced a statewide expansion of its road salt
management pilot program for the 2025-26 snow and ice season. NYSDOT
takes the issue of road salt management very seriously and for more
than a decade has been a national leader in the effort to reduce the use of
salt while still maintaining a safe and reliable transportation system.
These efforts include but are not limited to enhanced training for snowplow
operators, direct liquid applications in place of road salt, continuous
evaluation of innovative equipment, and utilization of best management
practices for reducing road salt. As a result, the statewide average
application rate for granular salt was reduced to 172 pounds per lane-mile
during the 2024-25 snow and ice season, down from the seven-year statewide
average application rate of 194 pounds per-lane-mile.
State Department
of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said, “Our crews are
among the finest snow fighting forces in the nation and part of what makes
them so good is the commitment to not only maintain public safety but also
to be good stewards of the environment. For more than a decade we have been
working to minimize road salt use as much as possible and the results speak
for themselves. Now, it’s time to expand the battle. We encourage everyone
to implement judicious salt management practices that minimize salt use
while still maintaining safety. A less salty winter will mean a greener,
healthier future for us all.”
DEC encourages
all New Yorkers to use these “Don’t Be Salty, New York” best practices to
save money, reduce rock salt pollution, and stay safe:
- Use Rock Salt Sparingly
- Shovel first, if possible, to clear snow and
ice before applying rock salt. The less snow and ice there is to
melt, the less rock salt is needed;
- Apply rock salt strategically. A 12-ounce
cup full of rock salt is enough to treat 250 square feet, a 20-foot
single car driveway, or approximately 10 standard sidewalk squares;
- Apply rock salt only where it is needed
most, such as walkways, driveways, and steps;
- Use a spreader to evenly distribute salt.
Avoid piling it in one area, as this can lead to more salt runoff.
- Monitor Weather Conditions
- Rock salt loses effectiveness below 15°F.
Sand can be used for traction on ice during a cold snap (and can be
swept up in the spring for reusing) or switch to a deicer made for
colder temperatures.
- If a snow or ice storm is predicted,
consider pre-treating surfaces with rock salt to prevent ice from
forming.
- Consider Using Alternative Products
- Consider making your own brine solution at
home by combining 3.5 cups of rock salt per gallon of hot tap water
and stirring until all salt is dissolved. Let any gravel settle to
the bottom. Pour the brine into a regular garden sprayer and spray in
a zig-zag pattern over desired area. Save extra brine
to use later.
- Use products from the GreenNY
specifications listed on the DEC website.
Among the many
impacts of rock salt overuse:
- Rock salt can run off into surface waters
through snow melt and stormwater or leach into groundwater.
- Excessive rock salt in surface water can
cause stress to, or kill, fish and other aquatic organisms.
- Rock salt washed off surfaces will accumulate
in soils, which can kill vegetation or deplete plants of nutrients.
Eventually, non-native salt-tolerant vegetation could move in and
disrupt ecosystems.
- Salty roads attract animals like deer and
moose (who love licking up the salt), increasing the probability of
accidents and roadkill.
- The presence of sodium in drinking water is
problematic for individuals with low-salt or limited-salt dietary
restrictions. People on a sodium-restricted diet can experience health
risks when exposed to elevated levels of sodium in their drinking
water.
- Rock salt has corrosive properties that can
corrode metals, including lead, copper, iron, and steel, from pipes
and other infrastructure.
- These corrosive effects also impact cars,
trucks, bridges, and roads resulting in approximately $5 billion
dollars in annual repairs in the U.S. alone (USEPA)
- Households using private wells and small
unregulated water systems are at the greatest risk of negative impacts
from corrosion. Regulated public water systems sample for lead and
copper and reduce corrosion if required.
In support of the
“Don’t Be Salty” campaign, DEC developed a fact sheet for municipalities (PDF) that includes
information about Water Quality Improvement Project (WQIP) funding. DEC developed a video depicting the importance of salt
reduction and released a podcast episode called Don’t Be Salty New
York, available on DEC’s website. The October/November issue of
DEC’s Conservationist magazine also provides a good
overview of the salt overuse problem and solutions. For additional
information and resources, visit DEC’s Rock Salt Reduction webpage.
Through Governor
Kathy Hochul’s historic investments in water quality improvements, New York
State is providing significant resources for communities statewide to
reduce road salt impacts and implement recommendations for road salt use
reduction. DEC in 2024 to help protect water, a
competitive, statewide reimbursement grant program that supports
implementation projects that directly improve water quality or habitat,
promote flood risk reduction, restoration, enhanced
flood and climate resiliency, or protect a drinking water source. DEC
expects to announce additional funding awards for salt storage and road
salt reduction practices under the 2025 round of WQIP.
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