At our February environment committee meeting, Connie Fortin taught a group of neighbors the ins and outs of watershed friendly snow and ice removal. Sponsored by the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, Connie has developed a curriculum that shows residents and businesses how to save money and supplies, get more effective results, and protect the waters of Minnesota. Who could want to stay ignorant of that?
Here are some of Connie's helpful tips:
- Before the storm, you can dramatically cut down on ice buildup by applying a little liquid salt to the pavement. During the storm, just shovel. After the storm, evaluate the need to add more salt or sand.
- Know what kind of de-icer you have - and it won't necessarily tell you on the bag. Different mineral contents will perform at different temperature ranges. The most common and cheapest one, NaCl (Sodium Chloride), is only functional down to 15 degrees pavement temperature. That means for much of the Minnesota winter, applying it is totally ineffective. If you don't know what you have, it's probably mostly NaCl. If it's above 32 degrees, don't use chemicals - just shovel.
- Below 20 degrees, use Magnesium Chloride and Calcium Chloride, which can be harder to find and more expensive, but at least they will work.
- If it is cold and you don't have Magnesium or Calcium Chloride, use sand. Sand has no melting capabilities but will provide traction for walking.
- Do not mix salt with sand on the same ice. If you do, the abrasives will sink into the ice and loose their ability to function. Choose one strategy or the other.
- Measure the square feet of the area you need to maintain. A general guideline is to use 1-3 coffee cups of salt per 1,000 sq feet.
- If you wet your salt and apply it as a liquid you can realize a 30% reduction in volume needed. [Clarification from Connie: Liquid salt is as you stated a mix of water and salt. I suggest you buy it pre-mixed then you know you have the proper concentration. I have found it at Rainbow and other common stores in a 1 gallon jug with a little sprayer attached. Sodium chloride works good to about 15 degrees pavement temp. Mag and calcium work to colder temps. If using mag or calcium be careful to not over apply as they can get “greasy”. I suggest applying in a wet – dry pattern to reduce the risk of creating a greasy pavement. And of course this works good before the storm to prevent bonding of ice to pavement.]
Environmental Benefits:
- Out of the 15% of Minnesota lakes and rivers that were tested, 40% are officially impaired
- Salt and sand contribute mightily to this problem: It only takes 50 lbs of salt (that's just one big bag) to impair 10,000 gallons of water - that's equivelant to one tsp ina 5 gallon bucket of water
- 8-14 tons of rock salt is applied to winter roadways in the US every year
- There is no way to recover deicer once it is appied
- Salt irritates the paws of pets (you should wash their paws after a winter walk)
- Every ton of salt costs $50-75 dollars to purchase but reults in $1,000 dollars worth of infrastructure damage to our roadways and sidewalks
And finally, a success story: the U of M invested $10,000 in equipment to properly apply liquid ice before storms. The next year, they saved $55,000 in salt costs. Now that's a great payback!
