Frozen Stormwater: It's Going to Melt, Baby
Out my window at work right now, I see blowing snow, ice--and future stormwater. It took me three hours to travel the normal one-hour trip to work. If you're a stormwater runoff watcher, as I've become, you probably saw a lot of mud and dirt and pools of stormwater runoff in that thaw we had last week.
Even if we didn't get a lot of snow this time 'round, keep this in your mind for future reference: Ice and snow piled at the edges of parking lots can be full of road salt and chemicals. Those drifts hold the pollutants until spring, when they're released suddenly--at a time when the hydrologic cycle is least able to handle it.
The MPCA's Keith Cherryholmes gave a Jan. 11 interview with Kare 11 about the effect of salt in snowmelt:

Over the years, the salt has melted the ice then been dissolved by the resulting water and that salt filled water has run into wetlands, ponds, lakes and streams. "It doesn't go away. It doesn't get eaten by bacteria. It doesn't evaporate. It just builds up and builds up," says Keith Cherryholmes of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The story also announced that the University of Minnesota's Center for Transportation Studies is offering its Annual Road Salt Symposium. Sheryl Corrigan, commissioner of the MPCA, will deliver opening remarks at the April 5 event.
Minnesota Stormwater Blog