Could the “Big Melt” Harm our Waterways?

Eventually, (we hope!) this snow will melt.

And according to Liza Young with Loudoun Water, 10 inches of snow melts down to about one inch of water.

So far this season, Dulles International Airport has measured a record-breaking 75 inches of snow. That’s 7.5 inches of additional water multiplied by Loudoun’s 521 square miles.

Yikes! That’s a lot of volume!

So, where does all this melting snow go?

The majority of Loudoun County is covered by three major drainage areas– Goose Creek, Catoctin Creek and Broad Run– that all empty into the Potomac River, and ultimately flow into the Chesapeake Bay.

Experts say a rapid snow thaw could drag harmful ice-melting chemicals and an influx of sand into our waterways, which could mean trouble for water-dwelling plants and wildlife.

“Whatever we apply to our roadways, it’s going to end up in our streams,” said University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science professor Sujay Kaushal in this Feb. 13 Washington Post article by David A. Fahrenthold.

In some cases, said Kaushal, these creeks can become a quarter as salty as seawater.

And sand put on roadways, he said, can “wash into nearby creeks and block sunlight needed by underwater plants.”

The good news, writes Fahrenthold, is that with temperatures remaining low over the next several days, a gradual melting of this snow is likely, which in turn, will offer more of an opportunity for mother nature to do some much-needed filtering.

But it’s a prudent reminder of how fragile our streams and rivers are to the effects of man-made pollutants.