A plow truck from the state Department of Transportation dumps straight salt on state Route 3, west of Tupper Lake, as snow falls on Nov. 30, 2019. (Enterprise photo — Peter Crowley)

The state Assembly passed the Randy Preston Road Salt Reduction Act on Monday.

The legislation would create two things: the Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force, which would research alternatives to salt spreading on winter roads and submit its recommendations by Sept. 1, 2021, and a three-year road salt application reduction pilot program to implement these changes.

Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, who sponsored this bill, said this was and that the bill is a

The bill, which passed the Assembly unanimously, will now go to the state Senate, where Sens. Betty Little, R-Queensbury and Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, have also sponsored the legislation. Jones said this will likely be voted on in the next few days. If it passes the Senate it would need to be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Jones wrote in a press release.

The bill is named after Randy Preston, who had been the Wilmington town supervisor for around a decade when he died in July. Jones called Preston a and said he had been involved in a group in Albany focusing on road salt reduction.

Salt is used to keep slippery roads safe in the winter, but when it runs off into waterways, wells and natural lands its sodium content can have corrupting effects, changing the makeup of streams or making wells undrinkable.

A 2019 study from the Adirondack Watershed Institute said of 500 Adirondacks wells tested, 64% of these downhill from state roads were found to have sodium levels exceeding the federally recommended health limit.

Jones said.

he wrote in his press release.

Jones said if this pilot program is successful, it would be expanded statewide.

Jones said.

Jones said the task force would look at buying better plowing technology, using better blades and pinpointing areas where less salt can be used. He said a lot of data has already been collected on this subject.

Jones said he hopes people will see results sooner rather than later, but that change is slow. He said he will make sure this task force’s progress does not get like others do.