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Road salt: Protecting China’s drivers, but at what cost? (chinadialogue.net)

Salting roads can make winter driving safer, but its corrosive impacts on roads and human health need addressing

Road salts can contaminate drinking water sources and harm animal and plant life (Image: Alamy)

In January, potholes began appearing on Dalian’s roads after heavy snowfalls. Residents of the north-eastern Chinese city even reported hearing their chassis strike the highway.

The local government admitted that widespread use of road salts for snow clearance is a cause of the damage.

Road salts – usually called “snowmelt agents” in China – prevent ice forming on the road by lowering the freezing point of water. Pure water becomes ice at 0C, but when combined with salt, this threshold can drop to around -10C.

Sprinkling salt on roads is a common practice in colder climates. It’s estimated that globally over 66 million tonnes are used for de-icing every year.

The use of chloride salts on roads has long been controversial because of their well-documented impacts on the environment, ecology and human health.

While environmentally friendly alternatives remain elusive, experts suggest seeking ways to reduce salt use, such as through more efficient spreading methods.

Environmental and health hazards

Potassium acetate and chloride salts are the most common snowmelt agents. While potassium acetate is an effective de-icer and causes less corrosion, its high cost means it is generally only used on airport runways.

Chloride salts (such as sodium, calcium, and magnesium chlorides) are almost one-tenth the cost, and are tend to be used on regular roads. But their corrosive effect on cars and roads is a major problem. As an example, Beijing’s Xizhimen overpass, which opened 20 years ago, has already experienced severe concrete spalling and steel corrosion partly because of chloride salts.

Cars and safety are also impacted: chloride ions damage the external protective layer of metal components in car chassis and accelerate tyre ageing. In China, from 2005 to 2020, car companies recalled and repaired 430,000 vehicles due to chloride salt corrosion.

Moreover, chloride salts increase the salt concentration of water sources and soil. This affects the growth of roadside plants, and can even lead to their wilting and death. For instance, in Beijing in 2005, over 11,000 street trees, 1.49 million shrubs and almost 200,000 square metres of grass suffered severe salt damage or death, resulting in direct economic losses of more than 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million). Salt concentrations in residual roadside snow and surrounding soil were found to be 392 times higher than normal.

As early as 2006, China’s central government published the “Technical specifications for snow removal operations on city roads”. It stipulated that snowmelt agents should be kept within 1 metre of roadside verges that contain plants. Rather than being piled into tree pits or onto grass, ice and snow that had been exposed to such agents should be transported and treated separately, the document stated.

Yet in practice these regulations have been poorly implemented. In 2022, the media reported the death of roadside plane trees in Beijing on a large scale. Professor Liu Yong, of the College of Forestry at Beijing Forestry University, explained that the trees died of desiccation after absorbing snow – and snowmelt agents – pushed onto their roots by roadsweepers.

Snowmelt agents can also harm the health of humans and other animals. As snow and ice contaminated with chloride salt melts, the salt can wash into the surrounding soil, as well as lakes and streams, possibly contaminating reservoirs and drinking water wells. High sodium levels in drinking water can negatively affect people with high blood pressure, while high chloride levels in surface water are toxic to certain types of fish, insects and amphibians, states the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Chinese state media CCTV reported that, after the devastating winter storms of 2008, residents of villages along the Beijing–Zhuhai expressway reported issues with drinking water quality, with some experiencing fever, vomiting and other symptoms. Investigations identified the cause as heavy use of snowmelt agents on the expressway, with excessive chloride ions entering the nearby spring that supplies the area’s reservoir.

China Dialogue spoke to Victoria Kelly, Environmental Monitoring Program manager at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. She explained that chloride salts have long been employed as snowmelt agents. Their use in the US can be traced back to the 1940s, but it wasn’t until the late 1960s and early 1970s that scientists discovered their presence in rivers, lakes and groundwater, and began to discuss their effect on the environment. To date, thousands of scientific papers have been published on the impact of chloride salts on bodies of water, organisms and ecosystems, and a growing number of researchers are calling on policymakers to reduce their use, said Kelly.

Can chloride salts be replaced?

Despite growing awareness of the harmful environmental and health effects of sodium chloride salts, their “sheer cost-effectiveness has led to their ongoing widespread use”, Kelly said.

In China, there are no definitive statistics on chloride salt usage on roads. In the US, Kelly said that while national-level data is available, there are gaps in data at the local level. She believes that governments around the world need to strengthen monitoring of chloride salt usage on roads and publicly disclose usage data.

In the meantime, there have been efforts in China to minimise harm from snowmelt agents. Over the last decade or so, some cities have been raising standards on their composition, as well as promoting what they deem to be environmentally friendly alternatives on a small scale.

The standard is a recommendation rather than mandatory. In practice, each province and city has introduced its own requirements for “environmentally friendly” snowmelt agents. For example, Shenyang City proposed the optimal ratio of sodium, calcium and magnesium chlorides in chloride agents as 4:3:3, while Jilin City requires the entire municipality to use “environmentally friendly” non-chloride salt agents.

In 2002, Beijing enacted China’s first local standard for “environmentally friendly” snowmelt agents, stipulating that salt sold for use on Beijing’s roads must be less than 50% as corrosive as pure sodium chloride. Since the 1970s, snow and ice had been removed from Beijing’s roads by spraying salt water, that is, pure sodium chloride in liquid form. After the introduction of the standard, 14 types of calcium chloride and magnesium chloride agents replaced this more-damaging salt water.

Treating roads with a salt solution prior to a snowstorm can reduce salt use by 75%

However, these replacements are still chloride salts. They can harm soil and greenery, and their environmental protection credentials have been questioned. In 2017, the country updated the 2002 standard with a new edition clearly dividing agents into chloride and non-chloride. It stipulated that the chlorine content of non-chloride organic agents must not exceed 1%.

In 2015, some districts in Beijing began promoting snowmelt agents made from fermented straw, claiming they are less corrosive than common snowmelt agents on asphalt pavements and bridges, while also protecting roadside vegetation.

Kelly said she was unable to comment on whether straw agents were an effective solution but observed that, generally speaking, it was difficult to find truly “environmentally friendly” agents.

Some food-based alternatives have been attempted elsewhere. In Canada, the city of Calgary and some parts of British Columbia have been experimenting with beetroot juice. While the US state of Wisconsin is spreading cheese brine on its roads. But these agricultural by-products are often more expensive and carry their own environmental dangers. Beetroot juice, for example, can disrupt the nutritional balance of wetlands when it enters water bodies.

Reduce salts and adopt alternatives

Before novel snowmelt agents with clear environmental advantages and low production costs are developed, chloride salts will continue to be used on roads. Many researchers have therefore been exploring how to minimise the quantity used while still ensuring driver safety.

China’s “Technical specifications” regulate the quantity of snowmelt agent that can be spread. When a snowfall event does not exceed 10mm, the amount used must not exceed 10 grams per square metre. This is the basis on which northern provinces have adopted further measures to reduce usage, scope and duration of snowmelt agents.

Harbin carefully re-categorised its 2,453 roads, restricting snowmelt agents to sloping roads and important traffic intersections. In Shenyang, 29 roads were selected for purely mechanical snow removal.

Snow plow trucks clear the road during a winter storm in Harbin, 2023. Due to environmental concerns, the city has restricted snowmelt agents to sloped roads and major intersections. (Image: Alamy)

The Shenyang municipal administration told the media in 2011 that the most important thing is to only use road salts where it is demonstrably needed. The second is to use environmentally friendly agents wherever possible, and the third is to use more mechanical and manual means of snow removal.

When presented with these cities’ approaches, Kelly agreed with them. She also highlighted Cary Institute reports indicating that treating roads with a salt solution prior to a snowstorm can reduce salt use by 75%.

Striking the right balance between ensuring road safety in winter and protecting roadside vegetation, groundwater and human health requires coordination across multiple sectors, Kelly noted. It also needs a shift in public perception towards accepting reduced salt use, or salt alternatives, as still safe, she said. “The important thing is that governments communicate with the public about the environmental impacts as well as the road safety issues of road salt.”

Ottawa road salt: Riverkeeper urges residents to cut down on salt use | CTV News

Salt is a common sight on roads, sidewalks and stairs in Ottawa every winter, but the Ottawa Riverkeeper is urging residents to cut back on their use of road salt because of the effect it has on rivers and streams.

The Riverkeeper monitored 30 streams over the last four years and said that 90 per cent of those sites routinely saw levels of contamination from salt that can cause harm to freshwater species.

"What we're finding, through five winters of monitoring for chloride levels, is that they are shockingly high," Ottawa Riverkeeper CEO Laura Reinsborough told CTV News at Noon.

"We're testing creeks and streams in Ottawa and Gatineau and over 90 per cent of those that we're testing are having acute and chronic toxicity. We know that road salt can be toxic when it reaches water and if it gets to that high level, it causes problems for all of the aquatic organisms."

Reinsborough said monitoring has found an amount of salt that is 200 times the acceptable level in some waterways.

"We also studied the levels into the summer and they stayed high," she said. "The chloride ions from the road salt will actually embed in the mud and they'll stay there."

Reinsborough says salt is often overused in the winter.

According to the Ottawa Riverkeeper's website, using salt for traction is wrong.

"Salt is not intended for grit or traction. If you are spreading more and more salt, without waiting for it to dissolve, so that you can walk on the crystals and have a grip on the ice, you are using salt incorrectly," the Riverkeeper says. "Instead, reach for a product like sand or gravel to provide a layer of traction between your boot and the ice. Plus, at the end of the season, you can sweep up the remaining gravel and use it again the following year, saving money and helping the environment."

Salt also stops working to dissolve ice once it gets colder than -10 C.

One of the best tips, Reinsborough says, is to simply use less salt.

"Think about a two-car wide driveway. One coffee mug of road salt is enough for that entire surface area," she said.

"For each square metre of surface area, you only need two tablespoons of salt. Put another way, that’s roughly eight tablespoons of salt per standard sidewalk square in the City of Ottawa," the Riverkeeper's website says.

The Riverkeeper says excessive road salt use is a solvable problem.

"While municipalities and private companies need to tackle this issue at a large scale, there is much you can do as an individual to reduce road salt use," it says.

RELATED IMAGES

A man spreads salt on a sidewalk in downtown Ottawa in this file photo. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE

Reduce your road salt use (ctvnews.ca)

The unforeseen consequences of UTM’s road salt reduction - The Medium

The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) prides itself on its efforts to foster environmental sustainability on campus. Each year, the school takes incremental, yet powerful steps toward a greener future. Unfortunately, this winter, UTM students aren’t so pleased with some of the university’s “sustainable” choices. 

Here in Canada, crunchy white-and-blue salt on sidewalks, roads, ramps, and staircases is a sign that winter doth approach to plunge us into four to six months of dismal darkness. In Southwestern Ontario, as winter begins, the temperature rapidly dips above and below zero degrees Celsius, resulting in the freezing, melting, and subsequent refreezing of precipitation. Due to this cycle, walking surfaces are covered by layers of ice, some of which are virtually invisible. Luckily, road salt provides us with traction on these slippery surfaces and melts away ice quickly. 

Unfortunately, this frequent use of road salt can be environmentally problematic. Not only does it cause discomfort by getting in between your dog’s widdle toesies, but the salt can also seep into bodies of water, making the fish taste way too salty. It is because of these environmental tolls that UTM took the initiative to reduce road salt use on campus by a whopping 80 per cent during the winter of 2022/2023. This reduction continues this year. 

By the end of last year’s winter, UTM’s Health and Counselling Centre released data suggesting a massive influx in head injuries among UTM students, specifically those related to blunt-force trauma, like falling and hitting your head. Apparently, the frequency of head injuries among students increased by as much as 80 per cent between the winters of 2022 and 2023. 

The Medium reached out to a UTM administrative spokesperson to get some answers. When asked what the cause of this strange increase in head injuries could be, the spokesperson replied: “Honestly, I have absolutely no idea what could be causing this issue. Like no idea at all. Maybe go ask someone who cares.” When the spokesperson was asked to step outside for a headshot, he exclaimed: “Are you kidding me? I’m not going out there on all that ice! I’ll crack my head open!” With that, The Medium’s interviewer was ushered out of the room with a scoff from the spokesperson. 

Without very much guidance from UTM officials, students have begun taking things into their own hands amid this head trauma epidemic. Starting in January of this year, some students took to sliding between classes on their bellies, like penguins. By early February, almost all UTM students had adopted “the penguin technique” and can be found slipping and sliding between classes all together, in great colonies. 

Oddly enough, the adoption of the penguin technique appears to not only encompass sliding to class on one’s belly, but it also seems to have resulted in a widespread mental snap among students. Students can frequently be seen huddling closely together for warmth at bus stops, stealing hard-boiled eggs from Coleman Commons to sit on during class because it “just feels right,” and diving headfirst into medium-sized bodies of water to “hunt for krill and fish.” Some students have even begun to rapidly molt feathers that they reportedly didn’t even know they had. 

In early February, an interviewer from The Medium slid over to the office of Principal Alexandra Gillespie, seeking answers about UTM’s recently coined “penguin ‘pocalypse.” Unfortunately, by the time they reached her office, it was already too late. Gillespie was found swallowing minnows whole while relaxing in her office aquarium, feathers scattered across the floor all around her. 

Suing over snow removal? Here's what the courts have said about who's responsible | CBC News

Lawsuits over broken bones from slips on sidewalks have made it all the way to Canada's top court

A person shovels a sidewalk in Vancouver's West End neighbourhood in January 2020. Courts have concluded homeowners cannot be found liable for injuries suffered as a result of them doing a poor job of clearing sidewalks in front of their houses. (Andrew Lee/CBC)

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On Jan. 6, 2015, Taryn Joy Marchi stepped through a snowbank next to a newly plowed parking spot in downtown Nelson and into a classic Canadian conundrum.

The ensuing drop injured Marchi's leg badly enough to warrant $1 million in alleged damages.

The city claimed it had followed its snow removal policies, but could she sue them for a job poorly done?

Nine years later, the result of that question — a legal battle which made it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada — continues to reverberate through the courts as well as the public works departments of cities across the country.

Especially on snowy days.

The question of a municipality's 'core policies' 

In a nutshell, Marchi's case dug into the question of a municipality's "core policies" — decisions shielded from private negligence claims so the courts don't create a "chilling effect" by subjecting all government decisions to legal liability.

On the day of Marchi's injury, city crews removed snow from roads in Nelson — in the province's southern Interior, about 423 kilometres east of Vancouver and 195 kilometres west of the border with Alberta — but they also cleared a series of angled parking spots in a main thoroughfare, creating a snowbank between street and sidewalk in the process.

Seeing no obvious way from parking stall to sidewalk, Marchi put her best foot forward — into the snowbank.

WATCH | Vancouver man helps shovel snowy Vancouver streets: 

D.J. Lawrence, a volunteer with the City of Vancouver's Snow Angels program since 2017, says he got up early this morning to help shovel sidewalks and driveways. The program pairs seniors and people with limited mobility together with neighbours willing to lend a hand to remove snow and ice outside their homes.

After a trial, a B.C. Supreme Court judge accepted the city's claim that the entire snow removal process was covered by core policy immunity — a decision overturned by the B.C. Court of Appeal, which ordered a new trial.

The city appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada — which sided with Marchi, coming up with a legal test for judges to figure out what counts as a core policy, and what could be considered the kind of "operational implementation" that might be subject to a negligence claim.

• Snow day 2.0: Classes cancelled again in southwest B.C. as more snow, freezing rain approaches

"The City's clearing of snow from the parking stalls ... by creating snowbanks along the sidewalks — thereby inviting members of the public to park in those stalls — without ensuring direct access to sidewalks was not the result of a core policy decision immune from negligence liability," the Supreme Court of Canada decision says.

"The public interest is not served when ad hoc decisions that fail to balance competing interests or that fail to consider how best to mitigate harms are insulated from liability in negligence."

WATCH | How to safely shovel: 

Shovelling snow can be good exercise when done correctly. But taking on more than your body can handle or ignoring signs that you need to take a break may prove harmful.

The decision doesn't mean municipalities have no defence against snow injury lawsuits. But it does force the courts to apply stricter scrutiny if they try to point to their "policies" as a shield from liability.

"The mere presence of budgetary, financial, or resource implications does not determine whether a decision is core policy," the decision says.

"Further, the fact that the word 'policy' is found in a written document, or that a plan is labelled as 'policy' may be misleading and is certainly not determinative of the question."

Duelling responsibilities for homeowners

The City of Nelson also claimed that it had not breached the "standard of care expected that would be of an ordinary, reasonable and prudent person in the same circumstances."

But the Supreme Court of Canada judges said a new trial would be needed to determine "factual findings regarding the impact of the evidence from other municipalities on the obligations imposed on the city."

A woman shovels snow during a period of heavy snowfall in Surrey, B.C., on Jan. 17, 2024. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

B.C.'s Appeal Court has also looked at the rights and responsibilities of pedestrians, homeowners and governments in another key case which emerged from a sidewalk slip.

In 2021, B.C.'s top court decided against a lawsuit filed by a Burnaby man who claimed damages against a couple whom he alleged had done a poor job of cleaning the sidewalk in front of their home, where he fell on black ice.

That case came down to duelling responsibilities for homeowners.

• Judge finds homeowners can't be found liable for accidents on poorly cleared sidewalks

On the one hand, the court said they are bound by civil bylaws to clear sidewalks.

But as the judge who heard the case in the lower court pointed out, finding homeowners liable for injuries suffered because they did their civic duty the wrong way would mean "property owners would have an incentive not to make any efforts to comply with snow removal bylaws."

The good neighbour principle

Underlying all these cases is another key legal principle concerning what it is to be a good neighbour.

The so-called neighbour principle was established in 1932 by the British House of Lords in a case involving a decomposed snail at the bottom of a bottle of ginger beer and a very surprised and unhappy customer.

A snow plow clears and salts Forest Grove Drive in Burnaby, B.C., after snowfall on Jan. 11, 2024. A court case involving a woman's snow-related injury dug into the question of a municipality's 'core policies' — decisions shielded from private negligence claims, so the courts don't create a 'chilling effect' by subjecting all government decisions to legal liability. (Jan Zeschky/CBC)

"You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour," Lord James Atkin said at the time.

The courts have subsequently concluded that the good neighbour principle can only be extended so far.

"A homeowner has a duty to ensure that his or her own property is maintained in a reasonable condition so that persons entering the property are not injured," the judge of a Toronto-based snow-clearing case found in 2000.

• Supreme Court says people can sue cities over snow removal activities that cause injury

"The snow and ice accumulating on public sidewalks and the potholes on the street in front of the house are the legal responsibility of the municipality, not the adjacent property owner."

Townships track road salt, sand like gold using modern technology - Orillia News (orilliamatters.com)

Every autumn, Ontario municipalities prepare for winter’s onslaught by buying up thousands of tonnes of sand and salt that will eventually be used to keep roadways and highways clear and free of treacherous ice.

This winter, Oro-Medonte, Essa and Springwater townships will spend about three quarters of a million dollars, combined, on sand and salt.

They track it as if it were gold.

Using modern technology, virtually every ounce of material can be tracked and the efficiency of the sand and salt program can be evaluated at almost any time. Plows are equipped with either a global positioning system (GPS) or an automated vehicle location (AVL) system and electronically controlled spreaders.

“We use computerized spreader control, which allows us to manage how much material we are putting down and where we are placing it,” said Shawn Binns, director of operations and community services for Oro-Medonte Township. “This helps with ensuring optimum application while meeting our maintenance requirements to ensure the safety of the travelling public.”

Scott Thomson, an operations department employee with Oro-Medonte Township, surveys the stockpile of sand in the township's material storage dome in Moonstone. Wayne Doyle/BarrieToday

According to Ontario’s Ministry of Transportation, salt spreading helps to melt snow and ice to prevent it from sticking to the highway and makes plowing more effective.

Sand provides traction on slippery surfaces, especially when it is too cold for salt to be effective, below minus-10 degrees Celsius.

Salt, an accepted mainstay of road maintenance today, wasn’t used in winter maintenance in Canada until the 1940s.

Prior to that, sand and small gravel was used to increase traction on snow-covered roads.

How much salt a municipality uses varies.

Springwater Township uses a six per cent salt content mixture, according to Scott Haw, manager of roads and fleet, infrastructure and operational services.

“The township purchased 5,000 tonnes of sand and 300 tonnes of salt which are mixed together in a process called brining,” Haw said.

Binns says Oro-Medonte uses a mixture that is seven per cent salt content.

Prior to 2023, Essa Township used a four per cent salt content mixture, but upped the salt content to 10 per cent last year.

Essa is considering increasing the salt content to 15 per cent in 2025.

“We’re looking at gradual increases similar to what larger municipalities are doing,” said Michael Mikael, manager of public works/deputy chief administrative officer for Essa Township.

According to Binns, a typical winter season in Oro-Medonte features about 60 'snow events' that require attention.

Those events may be post-storm clean-up or preemptive storm maintenance.

He said that’s the rolling average of the last five years and it’s up from the five year average before that.

“There’s definitely been less snow, but our main issue has been the temperature,” Binns said. “We’ve been experiencing an increase in freeze-and-thaw cycles and that’s driving our material usage.”

Haw hasn’t had the same experience. He says sand and salt use in Springwater is down so far this year.

“If temperatures had been closer to freezing at the end of December, we would have been out more due to freeze-thaw cycles,” Haw said. “However, since temperatures are forecasted to be lower in January, we anticipate our sand and salt usage will increase.

Economic and environmental costs of road salt in Muskoka (muskokaregion.com)

December arrives and we are planning for how we will adapt to this winter and wondering what kind of a winter we will have. Will it be crisp and cold with plenty of white fluffy snow or wet and rainy with periodic thaws?

Regardless, we do know it will include road salt — spread on our highways, parking lots, sidewalks and driveways. We all use road salt and benefit from its usage. But we are also increasingly aware of the damage road salt causes. The Muskoka Watershed Council is working to implement integrated watershed management (IWM) in Muskoka. Believe it or not, road salt and IWM are related.

IWM uses environmental evidence to guide the management actions we take. Our 2023 Watershed Report Card provided clear evidence that existing levels of the chloride from road salt have harmed our lakes, that concentrations are increasing, and that road salt pollution is most serious where we live, build and use roads. Data from the Dorset Environmental Science Centre show that chloride concentrations are near natural levels in the upper watershed at the Big East River and have actually decreased there since 1983. Further downstream in populated areas, however, concentrations have increased. They are now 20 times higher in Lake Muskoka at Bala and approximately 35 times higher in Gravenhurst Bay than they were in 1970. Friends of the Muskoka Watershed has summarized scientific studies, which show that the chloride from road salt is especially harmful in the soft waters of our lakes, such that the federal guideline of 120 milligrams per litre for “safe exposure” of aquatic life does not protect sensitive species here. We should strive to keep our lakes below 10 milligrams per litre as a start, with a long-term goal to minimize any changes.

We need to continue to use road salt or a less damaging substance to maintain our roads in the winter, but we must also consider the economic and environmental costs of its use. The economic costs are not trivial — Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission cites economic and environmental damages of anywhere between $680 and $3,900 per tonne for the seven million tonnes of road salt we use nationwide each year. IWM offers a way to properly evaluate those competing needs, as it incorporates economic, environmental and social considerations.

Before we leap to the conclusion that damage caused by use of road salt is a necessary cost for our safety, we should ask ourselves several questions and examine alternative solutions: How much road salt do we really need? Do we overapply, believing this will increase safety? Can we do a better job of measuring road and weather conditions in order to apply “as needed.” Do we really need to maintain our highways for high speeds year round? Could we achieve the same level of safety with mandatory use of winter tires? How much of our taxes are spent on road salt each year in Muskoka and are there cost savings to be had by changing how we manage winter conditions? What can we do at home? How can we get “smart about salt”? Salt is cheap and so we don’t think a lot about how much we use but did you know that it only takes one 20-ounce cup of road salt to clear 10 square metres of sidewalk or a six-metre (20-foot) driveway?

We can integrate our need to manage winter safety with environmental and economic considerations to better protect our environment and perhaps save money in the process. And we can start by asking these questions of ourselves and of our public servants.

This is the third in a series of articles from the Muskoka Watershed Council on “The State of Our Watershed.” Each explores environmental issues and management challenges revealed in our 2023 Muskoka Watershed Report Card.

Winter time: Cucumber water instead of road salt: Why salting against slippery surfaces is harmful and what alternatives there are News (indonewyork.com)

Anyone who fought their way through the snow chaos in Bavaria in the last few days couldn't help but see at least one walker slip. The winter clearance services were barely able to keep up with the masses of snow; now the ice has melted on its own. What remains is road salt that harms the environment. An innovative alternative has been available in Bavaria for a few years now - cucumber water. But you should also generally avoid salts altogether if possible. However, according to the Federal Environment Agency, more than four million tonnes end up on our streets and pedestrian paths in harsh winters. Road salt consists mainly of sodium chloride - that is normal table salt -, calcium or magnesium chloride. The salt reduces the freezing point and thus the ice on the paths or prevents it from forming at all. However, it is ineffective at temperatures below minus 20 degrees, and the same applies to continuous snowfall. The road salt flows into the canal system or reaches rivers, streams, lakes and groundwater via meltwater and puts a strain on the ecosystem. The salt can burn plants on the side of the road. Seeping road salt can accumulate in roadside soils for many years. The damage may be delayed for years. If the salt content is too high, important nutrients are washed out, it becomes more difficult for plants and trees to absorb nutrients and water, and they become more susceptible to diseases or dry out. In dogs, cats or other animals, the salt can get stuck in the paws and cause inflammation. The salts also attack vehicles and structures - this is particularly problematic in the case of monuments or corrosion damage to bridges. Property owners must ensure that sidewalks are cleared and there is a high risk of liability in the event of accidents. The basis is §823 of the Civil Code (BGB). For many people, salting the sidewalk is therefore out of the question. Only: In many communities, the private use of road salt is prohibited - with the exception of stairs or similarly critical areas. Anyone who violates this must expect fines. However, there is no uniform regulation at federal and state level. BUND Nature Conservation criticizes the fact that hardware stores continue to sell road salt.

In Bavaria there is a pilot project run by the Bavarian State Building Administration and the Develey company in Dingolfing, Lower Bavaria. The company has been using salt water from cucumber production since 2019 and makes it available for winter service. The brine that is created during the production of pickles is actually disposed of. By the way, this is wastewater - and explicitly not the sour cucumber water in the glass. Nobody has to worry about the smell on the streets either. So that the salt can be used for winter service, it is cleaned and processed into brine. To this end, the road maintenance department in Dingolfing will increase the concentration from 7 to 21 percent and use it in surrounding districts. In this way, the company does not have to laboriously dispose of its salt water and, thanks to the more environmentally friendly brine, less salt ends up in nature. This saves 90 tons of salt per 1,000 tons of brine used. By using cucumber water, up to 180 tons of road salt and almost a million liters of water can be saved every year. The only problem is that this is still salt. And the brine from the cucumber water also pollutes the environment. Another method has been found in the USA. Here, too, there is salt in the mix, but beet syrup is particularly popular in the north. For example, in Washington D.C. or in Canada, beet juice is sometimes combined with salt. According to the Washington Post, the mixture consists of 23 percent salt, 62 percent water and 15 percent beet syrup. And it is said to be at least as effective as the much better known road salt. The method was discovered by a Hungarian scientist in the 1990s. In recent years they have discovered more and more cities for themselves. Because the mixture is so sticky, it stays on the road longer and, unlike road salt, works even at very low temperatures. But the beet syrup could also be harmful to insects - but it is probably still more environmentally friendly than pure road salt. Instead of salting, BUND Nature Conservation or NABU recommend so-called blunting agents, i.e. grit, chips or sand. This doesn't melt the ice, but it does make it less slippery. But it takes a lot, according to the Federal Environment Agency, around 100 grams per square meter. And that's why the energy requirement for blunting agents could be higher than for road salt. “The effort for collecting and, if necessary, cleaning at the end of the season must also be taken into account in the energy balance,” says the Federal Environment Agency. Anyone who buys litter products should look for the “Blue Angel” environmental label, as it does not contain any salts. And if you want to remain completely environmentally friendly, you have to grab the snow shovel as early as possible. Sources: Develey, Federal Environment Agency, BUND Nature Conservation

City to try out new sidewalk machines in a collective push to reduce road salt use - Capital Current

The City of Ottawa will try out machines known as sidewalk controllers this winter in a pilot project to allow crews to more accurately apply and monitor the amount of road salt they apply.

Research by the Ottawa Riverkeeper has highlighted the ecological damage de-icing salt (sodium chloride) does to waterways. Since 2020, significantly higher chloride levels have been measured in urban waterways than in rural. Chloride is harmful to freshwater organisms. Much of the winter salt used on city streets, sidewalks and paths ends up in rivers and lakes.

The city said the machines under consideration are the Kugelmann Winterdienst, Bosch Rexroth 620, Epoke TPS Combi and the Parker Hydraulic.

“Heavy-handed road salt application is a serious issue in most urban zones, and its use has made some freshwater streams and waterways as saline as ocean environments,” said Michelle Woodhouse, water program manager at Environmental Defence in an email.

In Ottawa, city and contracted crews treat all sidewalks. Crews apply grit mixed with salt to the sidewalk network and on residential roads, Christopher Paquette, program manager for the city’s operational research and project unit, said in a statement to Capital Current.

Salemi said new rules could also legally protect small businesses looking to cut their use of salt for the environment. Keeping customers safe remains a central concern for these entrepreneurs.

“At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is put in [protective] standards for snow and ice management, and that could apply to those small businesses and shop owners that have to deal with their own snow clearing for their storefronts,” Salemi said.

Salemi said even if businesses hire outside snow management contractors, they are responsible for keeping their entries free of snow and ice.

Shovelling salt

Luca De Marinis, an assistant manager at Knifewear Ottawa in the Glebe, says staff shovel and apply salt to the store’s front step.

“We just want to make sure that we can get in and out of the store and customers can get in and out of the store without falling over,” De Marinis said.

Cory Hackett, the owner of Top of the World skateboard shop, said instead of using salt, staff use skateboard grip tape on the part of the shop’s entrance exposed to snow to prevent slipping.

However, Hackett said a significant accumulation of salt still ends up in his shop from the cobblestone sidewalk on which it has been applied by city or contract crews.

“We’re constantly having to mop the floors to lift the salt off of it,” he said.

Jackie Morphy, the owner of All Eco near Lansdowne, said staff use a salt-free de-icer on her store’s front step and rely on mats to prevent customers from slipping. She, too, said salt being tracked in from the sidewalk is a problem.

“I don’t like salt,” Morphy said.

Rock salt is the product most widely available to consumers. Alternative de-icers tend to be more expensive and some have downsides, said Brocklehurst in a statement.

William van Geest, the living city program coordinator at Ecology Ottawa, who encountered an excess amount of sidewalk salt on the Laurier Bikeway last winter, thinks greater education on salt usage from the City of Ottawa could be helpful.

“I know other organizations like the … Riverkeeper do fantastic work that includes educating people on this, but I think it’s in everyone’s interest … to handle winter maintenance correctly,” van Geest said. “I don’t see why it would be unreasonable to expect that from the city.”