Burleigh McCoy

Hey, Emily.

So, okay, today I want to talk about a phenomenon that's happening all over the world to freshwater.

So we're talking lakes, rivers, groundwater.

They are all getting saltier.

What?

Why is fresh water getting saltier?

Well, it's for a few reasons, but to figure out why, I recently took a trip to Madison, Wisconsin.

And there, it's mainly because of all the road salt they put down in the colder months to melt snow and ice.

Wow.

This is Hilary Dugan.

She studies freshwater at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

And she says the road salt eventually washes away and ends up in the local water.

Yeah.

And the drinking water where it's also starting to show up.

And this is not just Madison's water.

Freshwater is getting saltier all over the world for a lot of reasons beyond road salt.

And it's a problem scientists have just started seriously studying in the last few decades.

Well, water is a big part of life there.

There are these two big lakes on either side of downtown.

The university campus is right on the shore of one of them.