Environmentalists tell Gov. Murphy: Hold the salt!

In response to Gov. Phil Murphy's desire to constantly brine roads and highways before any possible winter weather, environmentalists warn there will be consequences.

Jeff Tittel, of The New Jersey Sierra Club, said Tuesday that too much brine and salt winds up in Jersey's drinking water. And the trouble is more than just the taste.

"When it gets into the pipes, especially in our cities like Newark and Paterson, the acids and the salts actually corrode the pipes and pull the lead out from the lead-lined pipes or from the joints," he said.

Tittel said there are better alternatives, such as potassium chloride.

Tittel says the governor is overreacting to the November storm that found roads untreated and traffic backed up.

"I just think that if you brine and it rains, you are just white-washing it into the environment and into us and wasting money. I had one of my members up in Sussex call me up the other week. They brined his street four times — and it was sunny. And he has a trout pond for fly fishing, so it could impact and kill the trout because too much salt affects the environment and critters as well as people."

The state Department of Transportation was unavailable Tuesday to react to Tittel's comments.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5