Emily Kwong

With producer Burleigh McCoy.

Hey, Burleigh.

Wait.

I guess it really does add up.

Yeah.

That much road salt and it's really impacting the environment.

Today on the show, what happens when Earth's freshwater gets too salty?

And is there anything we can do about it?

You're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

Okay, Burleigh, so you took a trip to Madison, Wisconsin, to report on this global phenomenon of freshwater getting saltier.

So what makes Madison a good place to look into this?

That is a huge change.

And you said it's happening all over the world, not just in Madison.

Is road salt the only reason that water around the world is getting saltier?

There has to be other stuff.

Oh, yeah.

We talked about that in yesterday's episode.

And how one way this happens is when people pump too much water out of their local aquifer and ocean water starts flowing in.

So I'm hearing there's lots of reasons that the world's fresh water is steadily becoming more salty.

What is the overall impact then on the environment?