Road Salt Reduction Ideas

RiverSides started a major campaign a few years ago to raise awareness about the use of road salts and the implications for watershed health. Much of the information gathered during that campaign is available on our website (though it is not currently being updated), and we produced a report with Sierra Legal Defence Fund called "A Low-Salt Diet for Ontario's Roads and Rivers".  http://www.riversides.org/index.php?cat=3 &page1=8
We also published a small information brochure "A personal salt reduction guide" that we're hoping to post online in the fall, but for now is only available in paper format. We haven't been working on road salts recently, but I'm happy to point out the resources that we did gather - I hope they help!

Emily J. Alfred

Director, RiverSides
511 Richmond St. W.,
Toronto, ON M5V 1Y3
www.riversides.org
[email protected]
T: 416 868 1983
F: 416 868 1320

Tina,

See www.riversides.org out of Toronto for their brochure "The RiverSafe Municipal Low Salt Diet" A Personal Reduction Guide.

Judy Gibbens

Manager, Member Services and Communications
Green Communities Canada
P.O. Box 928,
Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7A5
Tel: 705-745-7479
Fax: 705-745-7294
Toll free: 1-877-533-4098
www.greencommunitiescanada.org 

Greetings,

If you want some technical information about salt and other winter maintenance practices, try the following listserv. It may be too much, but you will see a LOT of different ideas. Also, conferences and references are posted regularly, so you may find more about it.

** To subscribe or unsubscribe from the SNOW-ICE list ** please visit: ** http://www.sicop.net/snow_and_ice_list-serve.htm **

This is not an easy problem to solve, since safety requires that roads and lots be maintained. So far, there has been no "silver bullet". For example, potassium acetate, which is touted as friendlier to the environment, is very expensive and increases the rate of concrete breakdown. (Replacing concrete and bridges more often does not seem to be particularly sustainable!) Sand can be used and captured, but creates PM10 problems in urban areas. In Colorado, we try to use a variety of deicers to meet different weather conditions. We also use metered sand/salt dispensers so that the mountain roads are not over-sanded. Good equipment and well-trained operators seem to be the most important factor in using enough, but not too much material.

Good luck,
Holly

Hello from Cleveland.

we know icy roads and are located on top of several large salt reserves so use salt pretty freely. I am the sustainability manager for Case Western Reserve University, where salt is a corrosive problem for our 100+ buildings, sidewalks, landscaping, campus roads, not to mention it being washed into our storm drains, sewer system, and back out into Lake Erie. Thanks to a tip from Ideal Bite http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/deicing_on_the_cake/ (a great resource) we are looking into using a corn based application, which sprays on fairly easily. We ordered it at the end of this winter, so haven't had enough of a test run to decide whether we're going to do a complete switch from salt, but it's worth looking into.

Hope this helps!
~ Linda.

Linda Robson
Finance & Administration Fellow for Energy Studies

Here at the Region of Waterloo, we have been doing a lot of work on reducing road salt, both for the transportation sector (roads) as well as the ICI sector (parking lots and sidewalks). We are currently updating our website, so I'm afraid I can't point you directly there for information yet (soon hopefully!). Having said that, I'm more than happy to chat with you about these projects. We will be piloting a new recognition program this winter for snow contractors and their clients. I look forward to hearing from you.

Leanne

Leanne Lobe, BES
Supervisor, Source Water Protection Programs
Region of Waterloo
150 Frederick Street, 7th Floor
Kitchener, ON N2G 4J3
519-575-4765
[email protected]
www.region.waterloo.on.ca/water