Road salt (NaCl) administration has been an economically affordable and efficient solution to deicing the roads in the northern climate. NaCl lowers the freezing temperature of water, which accelerates the melting process of snow and ice. Once this chemical reaction occurs, sodium and chloride ions drain into the sewers, soil, and other freshwater systems, including throughout the State of Michigan. This salt contamination of freshwater environments comes in contact with and harms the existing aquatic life. Road salt deposition has produced ecological drawbacks in Michigan’s freshwater. The purpose of this project was to examine NaCl’s effect on common Michigan invertebrates which included Daphnia, ostracods, midge larvae and earthworms by testing ice melting alternatives. Alternatives used in this experiment included Beet-It Ice Melt, pickle juice, sugarcane molasses, and sand. We conducted a second experiment in which we exposed the animals to a range of NaCl concentrations, in hopes of identifying a threshold concentration that allows for survival in salty environments. In both experiments, we measured survival and reproduction of the organisms in order to demonstrate the detrimental effects of road salt pollution. In both experiments, we found that the organisms responded differently to all deicer alternatives. Only Daphnia was significantly affected by road salt. The other invertebrates were not significantly affected by any treatment, including high concentrations of road salt, demonstrating interspecific differences in response to salt. This research allowed us to investigate a less harmful alternative to road salt in hopes of minimizing the endangerment and potential extinction of ecologically important invertebrate species.