The only independent, nonprofit news organization solely dedicated to reporting on the Adirondack Park.
The Adirondack Watershed Institute at Paul Smith’s College collected data showing that two-thirds of the wells it tested downslope from state roads were polluted by sodium beyond the federally recommended health limit of 20 parts per million. State crews spread salt to de-ice the roads, and it ultimately spills into nearby streams and leeches into the groundwater.
Zoe Smith, formerly the AWS program's director, is now deputy director at the college's Adirondack Watershed Institute. Former AWS science director Michale Glennon joins the institute and retains the same title there.
Lake Placid has three times more parking asphalt than state roadways, compounding salt pollution from snowplow operations.
By Michael Virtanen LAKE GEORGE _ Public works trucks now dump almost 193,000 tons of salt on highways and local roads annually in the Adirondacks, which eventually join runoff into the region’s waterways, according to the Paul Smith’s College professor who’s researching it. Daniel Kelting, also executive director of the Adirondack Watershed Institute, said the…