Be a “Smart Salter”
Lessen your impact on the environment, while staying accident-free
Winter snow and ice. It can look pretty, but not so pretty if you slip and injure yourself. While awareness of the environmental impact of road salt and deicers is increasing, we can’t totally stop using these products. Is it possible to decrease our usage, without ending up in the emergency room?
Just one coffee cup’s worth of salt is enough for 10 sidewalk squares or a 20 ft. driveway!
A FLOW member recently asked if there are recommended brands or procedures for salting at home. We asked Abby Hileman, Salt Watch Coordinator from the Izaak Walton League of America for her opinion.
Abby’s reply: “Great question! Unfortunately, there isn’t a perfect product and the usage of the many product options available can vary depending on the circumstances. Quantity matters! No matter what is applied, it should be applied in a smart manner and not overdone. We always recommend shoveling first to reduce snow that turns into ice, scatter salt, and then sweep up any excess salt and store it in a closed container for the next storm event.
Always look at the product ingredients. Many deicers will be mixtures of a few different salts (sodium chloride, calcium chloride, potassium chloride, and magnesium chloride). Calcium chloride and magnesium chloride do a great job of pulling water towards them, so should only be used at colder temperatures. Non-chloride deicers like acetates do not have corrosive impacts like chloride-containing deicers. However, they can greatly impact water quality by removing oxygen from the water during their breakdown (which is obviously not great for freshwater aquatic life). Here is a chart from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency about the lowest practical melting temperatures of different salts and more information about their use.
Come up with a game plan for the winter that works for each situation. Consider factors like the site itself, sun, temperature, precipitation amount and type, and what tools one has on hand. Sometimes you don’t even need to salt!
As an example, at my house, I shovel early in the morning before there is much foot traffic and then I follow up with a push broom to get to bare pavement. That makes it so I don’t even need to apply salt. The sun hits the front of the house, so melts any remaining snow/ice away by mid-morning. I do, however, have an overhang that sometimes drips onto my top step, which can create a black ice situation. I have a few options: I could invest in a heated pad (which are pretty pricey), I could move the door mat to that area or get a bigger door mat with more traction to cover that space, I could apply something like sand to help with traction, I could put a tarp over it and remove the tarp periodically to remove the water/ice, or I could apply salt to that specific spot. However, my game plan might change in a situation where rain turns into ice. I might instead need to use a tool like this (recommended by Bolton and Menk, who created the MPCA training) to help remove the ice and possibly also apply salt depending on the conditions.
Sometimes it just takes a bit of experimenting to figure out what works best for each situation.”
THE SALT WATCH PROGRAM
FLOW participates in the Izaak Walton League Salt Watch program. Our volunteers take readings of the chloride levels in the Olentangy River and tributaries throughout the year. We share our findings to the national Salt Watch database. If you would like to be a volunteer, we supply the materials and train you. Contact us at info@olentangywatershed.org for details. Learn more about the program at the Salt Watch website (https://iwla.org/salt-watch/) and on our website’s video of our webinar with Abby Hilemen.
MORE INFO
How road salt affects the environment
Chloride in drinking water fact sheet
What chloride does to infrastructure
Info on preventing damage to driveway surfaces; pet-friendly tips; tools and maintenance
A chart that shows the relationship of temperature and time for the melting abilities of rock salt.