In the measurements made in the center of Lahti, the chloride content of the groundwater still exceeded the target level.
Abandoning salting has clearly reduced the chloride concentration of groundwater in the center of Lahti.
The city of Lahti switched to using formate instead of salt to prevent slippage in 2017. The measurement results from Vesijärvenkatu show that the amount of chloride is still slowly decreasing in the groundwater. The last measurement was made in January 2022.
The value still exceeds the quality standard of EU legislation, which is 25 milligrams per liter. On Vesijärvenkatu near the city hospital, the amount was last 95 milligrams per liter.
– Even outside groundwater areas, quite a lot has been switched to potassium formate. Even though it is clearly more expensive than sodium chloride, it works longer and in harder frosts and has thus been found to be a good substance also in terms of maintenance, he states.
According to Malin, formate has not been found to cause harm in groundwater. However, salt in high concentrations can corrode water pipes.
Water protection manager Malin considers giving up salting the most important step in securing groundwater in risk areas. In addition to this, for example, the reduction of poisons in weed control has decreased in recent decades.
– Old pesticides can still be seen in groundwater. The fact that these are taken into account has been a big change for the better, he says.
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