Kristen Fisher, an environmental scientist with AECOM, told a Verona-area audience that road salt and other chloride sources are accumulating in Wisconsin surface water and groundwater and creating risks for drinking water, aquatic life and infrastructure.

"We're actually seeing about 1 to 2,000,000 tons per year used in Wisconsin alone," Fisher said, pointing to maps showing elevated chloride concentrations across urban areas. She said natural background concentrations are near 10 milligrams per liter, while the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maintains a non-enforceable secondary level of 250 mg/L — "the level that we see it start to taste like salt water," she said.

Fisher cited state Department of Natural Resources guidance that puts chronic toxicity near 400 mg/L and acute effects near 757 mg/L, and highlighted ecological harm at much lower levels: studies and monitoring, she said, show impacts to zooplankton at about 50 mg/L, including reduced growth and reproductive capability. Locally, she said, the Yahara Lakes show long-term accumulation even though road-salt application fell about 20% in Dane County between 2019 and 2022; spring melt can produce spikes into the thousands of milligrams per liter.

Fisher also warned about groundwater: two-thirds of Wisconsin residents rely on groundwater, and she said Well 14 serving much of Madison's isthmus is "expected to exceed 250 milligrams per liter...within the next 17 years if trends continue," with two other wells projected to cross that level in about 40 years. She noted the EPA does not maintain an enforceable health-based chloride standard and that treating chloride at scale is expensive.

Beyond human health, Fisher described impacts to pets and livestock from salty water and abrasions on paws, infrastructure corrosion (she cited local bridge photos and a cited $5,000,000,000 national annual repair estimate) and a Madison–Dane County Public Health reference to road salt as a contributing factor in lead leaching cited in the Flint, Mich., crisis.

Fisher outlined household and behavioral responses: point-of-use treatments such as reverse osmosis, electrodialysis, distillation or deionization can remove chloride; many common filters and boiling do not. She urged residents to shovel before salting, calibrate spread rates (SaltWise's "4 S" guidance), sweep up excess salt after melt and follow dosing guidance — roughly one coffee-cup of salt per 60 feet of sidewalk or per 20-foot driveway — to avoid over-application.

Justin Sunkay, street superintendent for the City of Verona, described municipal changes to reduce salt use. He said all 17 staff responsible for salting completed Wisconsin SaltWise training and are certified. "So everybody is now certified on staff," Sunkay said.

Sunkay outlined equipment and operational changes: salter controllers that vary auger and spinner rates with vehicle speed to maintain consistent application rather than a fixed dump; trucks fitted with brine tanks to pre-wet rock salt and reduce scatter; anti-icing (brine pretreatment) guided by pavement-temperature charts; and a brine formulation around 23.3% salt by weight that balances activation and refreeze risk. He said Verona stores salt under cover, tracks salt and brine use for each event, conducts post-event reviews and provides resident outreach to reduce overall community use.

Direct quotes from the presentation included Fisher's observation that salt use "permanently pollute[s]" small volumes of water at modest amounts and Sunkay's operational note that "We track the amount of salt and brine that we use each event." The presenters pointed listeners to Wisconsin SaltWise resources, a March 17 webinar, and local library materials for public education.

No formal votes or regulatory actions were taken during the presentation. Sunkay said Verona plans to continue refining its practices and expand resident and contractor outreach.

The presentation combined technical projections about chloride accumulation with concrete municipal steps aimed at reducing salt use and runoff, leaving the community with specific behavioral guidance and municipal commitments to monitor and adjust practices.