What "sustainability" really means

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"Unsustainable" means... "change is coming."  And, you might not like the form change takes.



By the time people start talking about the sustainability of something--like spreading salt on streets--you can bet it's been going on for a long time.  And, you can bet there's a good reason why people don't want to change.  So, sustainability issues always involve tough choices.  And if we don't make those tough choices, then reality forces change upon us.

Groundwater at Odana exceeds standards for salt



The Cogeneration plant on the west side of the UW campus is allowed to withdraw large amounts of water from Lake Mendota, based on a complicated swap agreement with DNR.

That agreement called for an infiltration field at the Odana Hills Golf Course, where up to 60 million gallons a year of stormwater are pumped into the soil.  Background.

One of the problems with this agreement is that the water being pumped into the soil is rather salty, due to overuse of road salt in the area. Several test wells in the area show levels of salt over the Enforcement Standard.  In other words, the groundwater is starting to become polluted with salt.