By Phill Sexton
Let’s give road salt a new identity, a new purpose of conservation, innovation and responsibility.
Salt is an Environmental Protection Agency-designated pollutant that we are allowed to apply unregulated. Unnecessary and copious applications of salt (and sand) on surfaces we walk and drive on has progressively increased for decades—an epidemic that is getting worse.
Slip and fall claims and vehicle accidents are framed as the primary reason for oversalting. Liability is a legitimate concern based on my experience as a contractor forced by insurance companies to settle out of court for bogus claims. But we must stop expecting roads and surfaces to be slip-free, which is unachievable.
Solutions for reducing road salt use will be achieved through awareness – education and outreach campaigns – and at an operational level by following sustainable winter management standards. These are monumental outcomes given society’s current appetite for immediate gratification and their right to drive and go wherever they want, whenever they want.
Sand is not an option. It absorbs moisture and freezes. Sand does provide friction – until it doesn’t. Mixing sand with snow eventually creates hardpack. Freezing rain is usually the only reason sand may be more effective than waste salt that will dilute with the rain. Otherwise, sand mixes with snow and ice, absorbs the moisture, and further enables the hardpack conditions we are trying to prevent or remove.
The Adirondack Road Salt Reduction Task Force Assessment and Recommendations report confirms the negative impact of road salt on aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, human health and property. The report recommends standards of practice, and pilots that are realistic and actionable.
I say with 100% confidence that the recommendations in the report will work because for the past decade a team of advisers and I have helped dozens of organizations to follow Sustainable Winter Management (SWiM) standards that have helped reduce salt use by 50% or more, and nearly eliminate the use of sand. SWiM standards are the framework of Best Management Practices recommended in the task force report.
This comprehensive report can serve as the roadmap for reducing road salt throughout the Adirondack Park and statewide, when enabled by accountability, action, and funding. Gov. Kathy Hochul should establish an interagency council with a strong leader dedicated to guiding the implementation of the task force’s recommendations.
The state also needs a chloride water quality standard. Bare minimum, begin with the EPA’s national recommended water quality criteria (which is still too high). New York, normally the leader, is behind on this issue. Several New England and Northeast states, as far south as Virginia, have established total maximum daily standards for chlorides, or are currently working on them. Why doesn’t New York?
New York also needs an action plan to implement recommendations over the next seven years, starting with a pilot program this season as the new council plans incremental salt use reductions statewide from 2026 to 2030.
A percentage of the state’s salt budget can be reallocated to help fund the council’s initiatives, rather than through new funding. Proof already exists throughout the Lake George region, the North Country and other parts of the Northeast, where SWiM standards have been followed for years resulting in substantial savings. Several counties and towns are already successfully reallocating their annual budgets to reinvest in training, new methods and new technologies. State government has the same opportunity.
The environmental bond act offers another source of funding. These water quality dollars should be focused on awarding grants to qualified municipalities and contractors for equipment and infrastructure upgrades that are known to reduce road salt applications.
Salt suppliers should be required to be part of the solution. If this pollutant is allowed to be sold and distributed at the very generous profits afforded the salt supply chain, which are further enabled by the state’s “Buy American Salt Act,” then there should be a fee charged on salt sold in New York to be distributed to a salt reduction fund overseen by the new council. Salt suppliers will not be hurt by this. They already control prices.
Road salt pollution is deeply embedded in human behavior, therefore will be solved when we focus on the culture of salt use. Reducing our road salt pollution by more than 50% is already proven to be easily achievable with commitment and accountability. The model exists. We simply need to scale these efforts. We need to want to solve what has already been proven can be solved.
Phill Sexton, a snow and ice management consultant for 35 years and a member of the Adirondack Salt Reduction Task Force, lives in Schenectady County.
Photo A state highway truck dumps road salt in Tupper Lake. Photo by Mike Lynch
This first ran in the Jan/Feb 2024 issue of Adirondack Explorer magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Beet Juice or beet juice mixed with sand. Check it out or ask other states about its use and success. How about a study using this instead of a proven killer of fish and clean water.
https://shuncy.com/article/what-states-use-beet-juice-on-roads
Phil, I will direct this question directly to you. In your 35 years of consulting in the snow and Ice business, Have you or anyone else brought up the alternitive use of Beet Juice?
Hi Joe. From my experience, beet juice on it’s own is not a sustainable alternative. Beet juice is typically blended / mixed with Sodium Chloride (NaCl) rock salt to lower the effectiveness of rock salt below the 15 degree fahrenheit threshold and it does help reduce bounce and scatter waste, helping rock salt “stick” to the road (and your cars unfortunately).
Keep in mind beet juice contains high levels of sugars and carbohydrates that will naturally run off into these same water bodies as nutrients, further contributing to harmful algae blooms (HABS).
Phil, have you or the state tried pure beet juice on any trial basis on any Adirondack roads or Ny roads for that matter? Seems we keep trying to find an alternative to road salt without trying any alternatives to road salt.
Any product put on the roads will run off. I would think beet juice run off compared to salt or brine is a no brainer as far as toxicity.
The question of cost arises and if a county can afford it. This old way of thinking got us into the mess we are in now. We look at the imediate cost instead of the long term costs. Long term costs include, rusted cars, dead fish, wildlife and fauna, dead streams and waterways. If you calculate those costs of fixing all these in the future I am sure beet juice would come out ahead.
Also take into consideration the bonus of producing the beets by local farmers and the influx of cash into our county instead of the money for salt leaving the county.
A locally produced road treatment in the county that needs it, Money into local farmers pockets, a safer product than salt, taxes on the sale of the beets into the county, more fish wildlife and fauna. Healthier planet. I know seems too easy and sustainable to believe.
Hi Again Joe.
I’ll answer with your last sentence; “I know it seems too easy and sustainable to believe.”
Anything applied in concentration and volume will likely cause unintended consequences over time. It always does. The name of the game that has proven to be successful is identify and drive out the waste. As an industry we over apply and waste material. We already do the same with beet juice. Before we try to use more of it, I recommend we first understand the full life cycle and unintended consequences beet juice may cause at higher volumes of use.
Whatever the material is. The answer is to implement a conservation approach. Our research and eventual reduction of salt application by 50% or more in the Lake George region has proven to reverse the trend of chloride loading in the Hague Brook for example. All while eliminating sand, except to be used for extreme conditions such as the ice storm we experienced in much of the Park late last week (I was in Saranac Lake).
Keep in mind almost all of the sand being used in the park has a percentage of salt in it, to prevent the sand from freezing. And many of these salt / sand piles are uncovered, thus wetting the sand and causing it to freeze, which then requires more salt, which then leaches out because it’s uncovered… which then requires more salt. It’s a vicious cycle.
What we have been doing in our work is eliminating the sand, and using the same amount of salt. Once you segregate out the salt, then you can reduce it further. The salt needs to be accurately calibrated and measured in order to achieve true reductions.
As I mentioned in my article, sand although starts as friction (good to use for freezing rain) causes far greater negative conditions in the long run.
Let’s start with measuring and calibrating Park wide, state wide, nation wide. These two steps alone would solve a majority of the issue.
Enough dragging our feet. We need action NOW.
Great article and I respect your knowledge and experience. Your point about the issue being deeply intwined with human behavior and culture is astute and gets to the heart of why nothing will be done in NYS. Government here is not primarily about meeting the needs of the average citizen, it’s about the transfer of money via taxation. The culture in Albany of lobbyists, kickbacks and payoffs prevents meaningful action on a variety of public interests. Until that changes (don’t hold your breath) we will be literally spinning our wheels on road salt and other issues as well.
Phil, Inquiring minds wanna know: What about “salt-slurry” ? Not sure of the mix-details, but minus sand, thus lessening chance the crystals would wash off surface before melting. Used when weather-conditions justify. TOWN (not City) of Plattsburgh has considered slurry; and combining with adjacent jurisdictions to ramp up demand and thus reduce co$t by buying materials /.equipment in volume. Thx.
Hi Richard. Thanks for engaging this discussion.
Salt brine is a next move I know working with the Town of Plattsburgh and their great highway leader Greg is preparing to implement. They are staring with a pilot route to perform anti-icing applications and doing away with the sand on that route. Nearby Town of Peru and their great highway leaders Mike and Tyler are implementing brine (no sand) and have a developed a brine only route. This being only their 2nd season their reduction results have been trending positively downward already. And they saved the town $70k+ in sand clean up costs alone last season.
Why no to sand? We have been using it for years in Saranac Lake on local roads seems to work pretty well? Sure you gotta clean it up is a problem. But none for these alternatives or rock salt does anything when it it below zero kind of cold.
I don’t believe sand is a HARD no. But it has its own bad effects in adjacent waterways. Siltation of rivers/streams causing smothering of spawning beds and invertebrate habitat are the main issues. So it can be used, but best kept far away from sensitive waterways. It is insidious, but in a different way.
Hi Paul. I do agree and has its place and time when it is effective. Most often the sand use we see is ineffective. It is basically only serving the purpose of making the snow “dirty” giving a visual cue that “something” was done on the road. The best use of sand is to use as little dry sand with no salt mixed as needed to provide friction on either a bare surface with black ice / freezing rain, or to provide a little bit of friction on a surface that is properly cleared of snow. Most times surfaces are being left with a 1/2 inch or more of snow in them and then the sand is applied on top of the snow, leaving the later underneath to eventually develop into hard pack snow and ice.
We met with the Village crew the other day to conduct a calibration demonstration for them. They are open to new ideas for improving the operation. They need your help and the rest of the community to allow them to make the necessary improvements. This takes more than money. It requires the whole community to “buy in” and support the highway crew and leader. These folks are the heros our working in the middle of the night while the rest of the community sleeps and relies on their reliability and loyalty.
Thank you for your interest and engaging this discussion Paul. – Phill
Mr. Phill Sexton,
Thanks for your article. Here are my thoughts.
We destroy the world that we live in, not by producing bombs of mass destruction but by purchasing bread in plastic bags, driving to the health center to walk around an indoor track, and salting our roads so that we can buy bread on the way back from the gym. We are all part of it. I cannot stop the production of nuclear weapons, but I don’t stop buying bread in plastic either. I could go on, but Abe would say it in fewer words.
Bill Ott
Lakewood, Oh
(somewhere outside the line)
Phill is correct that road salt reduction will work while also maintaining winter highway safety. The real problem is getting the NYSDOT to budge on their current practices. We conducted a “Pilot Program” in the Lake George (New York) basin from 2018 through the current winter period. And guess what we found….. the road salt application rate per lane mile was reduced. However, the number of ‘application events’ doubled and sometimes tripled which resulted in a net effect of more salt going into Lake George than before the Pilot Program was initiated. In case no-one realizes it, the NYSDOT probably is the largest and most autonomous agency in New York State. They are reluctant to take advice from anyone and just set their own ground rules (no pun intended). Just read the June 2023 Lake George Waterkeeper Final Report. If any of this reduction is going to work, it will require oversight by the Governor’s office. Phill’s and the Lake George Association program in the Lake George basin is working b/c they have taken the time to re-educate the principal players involved. The NYSDOT does not want to be re-educated…..
So let me understand this. We did a pilot program (Study) for 5 years to reduce salt use and ended up with MORE salt being applied to the roads and into lake george?
Do we need anymore studys or do we just throw our hands up and say, what we all know is true, ” no one really wants to make the self sacrifices to clean up the planet” This will require all of us giving up something. It means less of everything. All these studies we do tells us to use less of everything. Our country and the world population is built on using more of everything. Until we use less we are just spinning our wheels and patting ourselves on the back thinking we are doing something. Studies Studies Studies and no action. Maybe we should study why the Study failed.
What is less of everything Joe?? What have you given up or are you willing to give up??
I understand it is hard to look inward as to what each of us can give up for the betterment of the whole. It is not what we were taught growing up. Most of us were taught to want more. Changing our mindset to use less is a good start to a struggling planet.
Less salt for clean water.
We are a smart people, I think we all can find areas to use less of something.
I’ll try less beer & bourbon this weekend, less cigars and less wood on my campfires. I’ll start there for the weekend wherever I end up staying for the weekend
Jim is referring to NYS dot adding to salt applications. Local towns around Lake George and the Adirondacks thru these studies have reduced salt usage by 50% in most cases. I have seen this first hand as a plow operator for the Town of Lake George we did this with studies and programs from Phill Sexton . The only study failed is NYS dot.
Jim, I confused. A Pilot Program was conducted that resulted in more salt running off into Lake George–doesn’t that indicate that the Pilot Program with reduced rate of salt application (right?), but with more applications (which ended up more than offsetting the reduced application rate), was a failure?
Is this reduction effort just in the park?? Or are there efforts to incorporate this through the whole state?? Is m seeing a lot of state DOT trucks dropping salt when not needed. Had 3 pass me last week. Not one had plow on ground as roads were bare, but all 3 were dropping salt. They went up and turned around and then came back in the opposite direction. None were plowing in that direction either but all 3 were dropping salt. Took a picture and was going to email them to Zach but none of my previous emails have been returned so I didn’t bother. Still have the pictures though
Hi Rob. Thanks for joining the discussion.
What days were your pictures taken? It’s possible DOT was performing and anti-icing application prior to the freezing rain event that was widespread throughout the park Wednesday night into Thursday.
Tues Jan 23. 6:44 AM. Was not in the park. I bounce between a few places throughout the week. Lol. That was why I asked if this was a state thing or just in the park.
Where was it, Rob? Which road(s) / Town / County?
Rt 370. Onondaga county. Baldwinsville
20 feet away from the Seneca river. Again is this a state thing or are we only worried about the Adirondacks??
Rob,
My focus, and that of our firm’s, is nationwide, wherever there is an opportunity to help with reducing salt pollution.
Knowing some of the good folks who oversee NY DOT operations, I know they are concerned with this issue statewide.
The NY Adirondack Salt Task Force was originally assembled by the Governor in response to legislation (The Randy Preston Act) that was passed to focus on the Park. The recommendations from the report will benefit a state wide, and nationwide opportunity.
– Phill
Thank you Phil.
????????
Phil, thanks for the interesting article. Lots of good points to chew on. I’m confused when you say “Sand does provide friction – until it doesn’t. Mixing sand with snow eventually creates hardpack.” Dirting the ice with sand, even in a hardpack, still results in substantial traction/friction. When I have ice in my driveway and stairways, it takes only a small amount of sand mixed into snow or ice to make it much safer to walk and drive on. I can feel also that security when I drive on hardpack ice mixed with sand on our county roads. Also, sand remains on the road all the time, whereas the salt on roads washes off frequently, and has to be re-applied often. Timing of application of salt is trickier than applying a sand/salt mixture. In Tromso, Norway (north of the arctic circle), the Norwegians use little or no salt, they plow and then spread a coarse sand to very fine pebble which gets incorporated in the hardpack. This dirty hardpack does accumulate during the winter but the grit in the ice results in good traction, even on steep hills. I think you may be underestimating the effectiveness of dirting hardpack with sand has on friction/traction. People have been driving on these fairly safely on these sanded/salted roads for many years, so I’m confused why you say that sand is not an option.
Salt is an obvious contaminant because it readily dissolves in water and becomes a solute that is dispersed and transported via surface water and groundwater. The movement through the environment can be complicated, especially in groundwater. It is generally easier to trace solutes in surface water than in groundwater because surface water is visible whereas groundwater is not. In groundwater, tracing the movement of a solute can be determined with some success through a porous media such as sand and gravel aquifers, however, it is extremely difficult to nearly impossible to trace solutes in fractured bedrock aquifers. Most wells in the Adirondacks tap these fractured bedrock aquifers. Little is known about how groundwater flows through these fractured bedrock aquifers–it takes special and expensive equipment to even try to understand how groundwater flows thru these systems.
Salt’s effectiveness is directly related to the surface temperature of a snow- or ice-covered road. It extremely cold regions such as in the Adirondacks, it is less effective. It is well known that sand and other abrasives improve vehicle traction on snow- and ice-covered roads. They can be used at all temperatures and are especially valuable when it is too cold for chemical deicers to work. Salt’s effectiveness is directly related to the surface temperature of a snow- or ice-covered road. As temperatures go down, the amount of salt needed to melt a given quantity of ice increases significantly. For example, salt can melt five times as much ice at 30°F as at 20°F. In addition to the amount of salt applied, the timing of application of salt can be tricky. Timing of application is the most important factor in successfully clearing snow by chemical treatment. The longer a deicing chemical has to react, the greater the amount of melting. At temperatures above 20°F salt can melt ice in a reasonable time. However, at 10°F it takes an hour for salt to melt 1⁄8” of ice.
My question is-Our town uses sand mixed with some salt. Even if we went with your scenario of using 50% less salt than is presently used, would that end up using more salt than currently used in the sand/sand mixture because so little salt is used in the sand/salt mixture?
Hi Todd. Thanks for joining the discussion . Awesome thesis.
Let’s start with this idea from a man most of us likely respect his wisdom… And he LOVED the Adirondacks:
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking when we created them.” -Albert Einstein
This may take a couple of back and forths Todd. Thanks for your passionate engagement.
1st question: What town are you referring to?
My general response is if we are going to continue relying on sand, then we need to at least use it in a way that doesn’t require mixing it with salt. The Great White North regions you described use what’s referred to as “pickle”. Much more course and that doesn’t absorb moisture nearly as much, if at all, in that colder dryer climate. Therefore doesn’t require salt mixed in it to prevent it from freezing. And these pile need to be covered and stay dry to avoid need salt in them. When I oversaw the Fort Drum operation, we used a 1b stone mix. And there was a separate pile for salt when we needed it as a last resort.
So then also keep in mind, much of the sand (not all) being used in this region is what’s know as “blow sand”. This absorbs moisture much more than the “pickle” being used farther north in places like Calgary.
Please keep in mind I was at one time the largest snow contractor in the States; therefore the single largest private purchaser and applier of road salt. I’ve committed and witnessed most if not all the sins when it comes to using salt and sand. Every pile of salt /sand mix I’ve ever mixed or observed never has the “little bit” that we are told it has. That’s the reality we all need to be accountable to. And “Stuff” happens as 2am when snow hits the fan. More salt is being applied than we are seeing. I walk and drive throughout the Park in the winter. I see the reality these heros (plow operators) are faced with at 2am. I am one of them.
When I say 50%, I mean show me a pile that has only “a little” salt in it. I’ll show you how much more it can be reduced by. If you take the sand away and only use the remaining salt the most responsibility with other tools and technology that helps to reduce or eliminate the use of all that salt. It’s being done now, inside and outside of the Park.
Last point for now. We are unfortunately experiencing less frequent freeze cycles. Dr. Jay Curt Stager with Paul Smith’s College has made this clear, at least to me. Other than the odd week of sub zero temps we experienced in places like Saranac Lake last year (I was there testing non-chloride Deicing alternatives that week), we are experiencing temperatures that are more consistent with your thesis of when salt is most effective.
To your points Todd, I agree with all of them, provided we stop defending one material over another. All of the materials being used in today’s winter management practices tend to be over used, over applied, are pollutants, and are being wasted. I speak as once being the biggest offender. I speak as someone who has to make a profit doing this work. Therefore I can tell you with ???? confidence, there is always waste in the system, in every organization – which I’m my world is wasted profit / profit loss. For taxpayers that’s wasting their paycheck.
All we are trying to accomplish first is to inspire a movement of shifting mindsets, and improving upon the practices that are already being implemented. Once we solve the waste opportunity, then we will all be on a better path to truly be able to implement “alternatives”… Whatever those may be in the future.
Thanks for joining us Todd. I appreciate your facts and passion.
– Phill
If the safety of winter vehicular travel can be maintained at the current level with a 50% reduction in the amount of salt applied, I am all for it. I don’t know how that chemistry will actually work and I am concerned about taking a ‘let’s see how it works’ attitude when lives could be on the line.
In a snowy area, you drive down the road and there may be 3+ feet of piled snow along the roadside. How much salt does THAT contain? Has this been studied? Are chloride ions suspended in snow/ice piles? Is there a way of mitigating salt/sand leaching/run-off in especially sensitive areas by removing these piles of ice/salt/sand before extended thaw events?