Smart About Salt Winter Salt Management ProgramPlace your organization logo herePlace your organization logo here




 
 

News

The opinions expressed in our new items and other published works are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Smart About Salt Council (referred to as SASC) or its Directors, Officers, Volunteer, agents or staff.

All rights reserved. No part of any SASC published work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Information contained in our published works have been obtained by SASC from sources believed to be reliable. However, neither SASC nor its authors guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein and neither SASC nor its authors shall be responsible for any errors, omissions, or claims for damages, including exemplary damages, arising out of use, inability to use, or with regard to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information contained in SASC publications.

<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   5   ...   Next >  Last >> 
  • 13 Mar 2024 6:58 AM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    Lake Simcoe Watershed suffers from winter salt pollution (yorkregion.com)

    Salt goes wherever water goes, and in northern York Region more and more winter salt has slipped invisibly into rivers such as the East Holland, local groundwater and Lake Simcoe.

    “Once it’s in the environment, you can’t get it out,” Bill Thompson, Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority’s watershed planning manager, said last month.

    The authority knows waterways around the lake have absorbed steadily increasing amounts of salt since the 1970s. Its watershed report card last year said LSRCA is working with municipalities and industry to scale back salt use, but admits “climate change, urban expansion, and increasing public expectation (on winter safety) are making reductions difficult to achieve.”

    Thompson puts part of the blame on private contractors who may not understand how much salt is really needed to keep a sidewalk or parking lot safe.

    “The only thing we as a society can do is use less salt,” he said.

    Claire Malcolmson, executive director of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition, wants stronger measures on salt before it’s too late.

    The LSRCA in 2015 identified “salt vulnerable areas” in the lake’s watershed, reporting most samples collected from Tannery Creek, Lovers Creek, the East Holland River, North Schomberg River, and Hotchkiss Creek exceeded the federal guideline for long-term exposure.

    Claire Malcomson of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition

    Claire Malcolmson of Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition says salt pollution continues to rise in Lake Simcoe's watershed and will harm aquatic species unless curbed. Expanding the road network — building the Bradford Bypass, for example — makes it harder to reduce salt pollution, she says.

    Claire Malcolmson photo

    The authority’s report projected, based on the watershed’s estimated population growth, that salt would affect 45 or 47 studied aquatic species by 2031, a prediction Malcolmson called “devastating.”

    Queensville contains headwaters of the Maskinonge River, which has low flows and relatively little ability to dilute salt applied to the area’s roads and parking lots, the report added.

    “The effect is already there. No one is explaining how we’re going to bend that curve,” said Malcolmson, whose group recently sparked a provincewide campaign, the Ontario Salt Pollution Coalition.

    Chloride hot spots tend to be in urban areas and along major roads. The Bradford Bypass, a proposed eight-lane highway crossing the East Holland watershed, would only worsen salt pollution, Malcolmson and other conservationists say.

    Since Highway 404 opened north of Green Lane, 84 per cent of water samples taken from the Maskinonge River have exceeded chronic salt levels, Malcolmson and Bill Foster of Forbid Roads Over Green Spaces wrote to an Environment Canada official last year.

    What will Environment Canada do to protect the West and East Holland Rivers, which flow into Lake Simcoe, from salt pollution that “will dramatically increase” once the bypass is built, they asked.

    “Either we deal with the salt problem as it is now,” Malcolmson and Foster told the official, “or we deal with this again in a decade when it is much worse.”

    Malcolmson said her group and the provincewide coalition are optimistic the provincial government will take action on salt — Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin and Attorney General Doug Downey, after all, represent Lake Simcoe Watershed ridings — which follows the advice of scientists and target reductions.

    LSRCA continues to monitor water quality and educate municipalities to make better decisions on salt.

    In this, Newmarket is one of the watershed’s biggest successes. The town uses Thawrox, a treated salt that can melt ice at a lower temperature than regular road salt.

    The town once used 110 to 140 tonnes of salt during each snow event, but introducing Thawrox in the winter of 2017-18, has dropped use to between 55 and 70 tonnes — a 50 per cent reduction, said Peter Noehammer, Newmarket’s development and infrastructure commissioner.

    The town checks and monitors salting equipment and uses electronically controlled spreader devices to ensure correct salt application, and continuously trains and educates snow operators on salt application rates and plowing procedures, Noehammer added in an emailed response to questions.



  • 11 Mar 2024 6:22 AM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    Moncton effort to protect waterways from road salt gets encouraging results (yahoo.com)

    A Moncton project to reduce the salt and sediment reaching waterways from a city snow dump is showing positive results, according to Ducks Unlimited Canada.

    There has been an increase of about 20 per cent in water quality since the creation of a new wetland to filter pollutants from snow melt, said Adam Campbell, the Atlantic manager of operations for the conservation group.

    "It was quite acceptable not that long ago to dump the snow right into rivers and right into the bay," Campbell said.

    But that's changing.

    "I think there is a knowledge that this can be detrimental."

    The Moncton project has been underway since 2015, when local officials were concerned that runoff from snow being trucked to the Berry Mills dumpsite from different parts of the city would flow into an adjacent brook.

    Since the snow dump is filled with snow plowed from roads, it is filled with sand, salt and other pollutants.

    For comparison, this is what the first year of flooding looked like with the snow dump.

    For comparison, this is what the first year of flooding looked like with the snow dump. (Submitted by Adam Campbell)

    So the city and Ducks Unlimited worked together to design a skinny wetland to mimic a natural one. The runoff is forced to flow all through the new wetland feature before exiting in a more filtered state into the brook.

    "It does a pretty good job of reducing a number of things, but in particular salt," Campbell said. "The amount of salt coming into the system compared to the outlet is quite reduced, as we had hoped."

    If salt enters a freshwater system, Campbell said, it can be fairly toxic to fish and other species living there. It doesn't take a lot of salt to make a freshwater system less desirable for fish that can't survive with salt.

    He said a wetland needs to have three things: water, vegetation that can grow in those conditions, and the right soils to keep the water in place.

    Once a wetland feature is established, it acts as a filter.

    But it took a few growing seasons before the new Moncton wetland was functioning properly.

    An aerial photo shows the constructed wetland when it was newly created and the snow dump pad above it.

    An aerial photo shows the constructed wetland when it was newly created and the snow dump pad above it.

    An aerial photo shows the constructed wetland when it was newly created and the snow dump pad above it. (Submitted by Adam Campbell)

    Elaine Aucoin, the general manager of sustainable growth and development for the city, said during routine testing of the water, the inlet — or start of the wetland — and the outlet — the part of the wetland that goes into the brook — are tested to see if the wetland is properly filtering out pollutants.

    The results show that along with the decrease in road salt in the outlet of the wetland, there is also a decrease in hydrocarbons, metals and other sediments in the runoff.

    While the waterway has been good for the brook, Aucoin said, it has also helped create an environment for other wildlife.

    Seen here is a Moncton naturalized stormwater pond designed to receive storm water runoff.

    Seen here is a Moncton naturalized stormwater pond designed to receive storm water runoff.

    A Moncton naturalized storm-water pond designed to receive storm-water runoff. (Submitted by Adam Campbell)

    Since the creation of the Berry Mills wetland, the city has constructed three other wetlands, or naturalized stormwater ponds, for storm-water management purposes, also with the help of Ducks Unlimited.

    Campbell said there is probably an opportunity to explore doing more wetlands in response to snow-melt runoff.

    "I think everyone's kind of headed in the right direction."


  • 01 Mar 2024 7:03 AM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    Vortex Energy finds synergies in salt mining, hydrogen storage and ammonia cracking | CSE:VRTX, OTC:VTECF (proactiveinvestors.com)

    Salt was one of the most valuable commodities in ancient times. In fact, the phrase "worth its salt" is thought to have originated with the ancient Romans, who valued their sodium chloride highly.

    Roman soldiers at the time received wages so they could purchase salt to preserve food such as meat and fish, in what was known as a monthly “salarium,” which has evolved into the English word “salary.”

    Today, salt has a wide range of commercial and consumer applications, from water treatment, drilling fluids and winter road maintenance to food processing, condiments and preservatives.

    Globally, the size of the salt market is projected to grow from US$34.1 billion in 2023 to $48.6 billion by 2030, according to Fortune Business Insights.

    Canadian company Vortex Energy Corp. (CSE:VRTX, OTC:VTECF) hopes to capture some of those sales through the advancement of its Robinsons River Salt Project located in Newfoundland and Labrador.

    In doing so, it would help to reduce the 7-10 million tonne per year road salt shortfall that leads Canada and the U.S. to turn to the import market to top up their supplies, according to Mining.com.

    "Where we are located is near one of the largest salt discoveries in eastern North America," Vortex Energy CEO Paul Sparkes tells Proactive.

    "We are also next to a large, proposed hydrogen project called World Energy, which will require storage not only for hydrogen but also for green energy."

    Sparkes, an accomplished business leader and entrepreneur, is a former director of operations under Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and has also served as a senior aide to two premiers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

    Vortex Energy boasts an experienced and distinguished management and advisory team as well, which includes famed Yukon gold prospector Shawn Ryan, and George Furey, who served as speaker of the Senate of Canada from 2015 to 2023.

    Robinsons River, which is comprised of 942 claims covering 23,500 hectares, contains two large-scale salt structures that were identified through geophysical and seismic exploration. The maximum thickness of the salt strata is estimated to be 1,700-1,800 metres in both structures.

    As salt is extracted from the ground it leaves behind caverns or domes, which are ideal locations for storing hydrogen, an increasingly popular clean fuel option.

    Salt caverns feature some significant advantages when it comes to storing hydrogen. First, the caverns allow for safe storage of large quantities of hydrogen under pressure with minimal

    environmental disturbance at the surface. As well, they enable flexibility regarding injection and withdrawal cycles.

    Vortex began drilling the Robinsons River project in November of last year, with the first occurrence of salt rock occurring at a depth of 581.5 metres at the Western Salt Structure, which has the potential to house an estimated amount of 250,000 tonnes of hydrogen in more than 25 caverns.

    The company notes that based on available geological information, the East and West Salt Structures have a conservatively estimated potential combined hydrogen storage capacity of up to 800,000 tonnes within more than 60 caverns.

    Vortex Energy says its Robinsons River salt dome project could be as much as 127% larger in terms of hydrogen storage potential than the Fischell Salt Dome owned by privately held Triple Point Resources.

    In addition, Robinsons River’s location in Newfoundland and Labrador positions the project as a potentially viable alternative for supplying the U.S. East Coast with hydrogen, due to ready port access and distance to U.S. customers.

    European markets are a distinct possibility as well, particularly in light of the agreement Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in August 2022 envisioning a hydrogen alliance between their two countries.

    Good access to power and roads underpins favourable logistics for moving product from site to port.

    Vortex also holds the licence and right to use ammonia cracking reactor technology and membrane separator technology for producing hydrogen from ammonia. According to Vortex, the technology causes the ammonia molecule to be “broken apart” in a process that creates inert nitrogen, which can be safely released into the atmosphere, and pure hydrogen, which is suitable for use as fuel.

    Sparkes notes, though, that the technology is still in the “early stages,” reasserting that the company’s main focus is the salt resource and cavern storage opportunity.

    But with a variety of end uses that include automobiles and maritime vessels, it is an important aspect of the company’s overall strategy and worth keeping an eye on as things progress. Once all R&D work is complete, plans call for building a commercial prototype facility to produce high-purity hydrogen at a customer site to validate the system’s operating performance in a commercial setting.

    Looking ahead, Vortex Energy recently raised C$1 million in flow-through funds and $1.5 million of hard dollars in an equity private placement, which the company will use to advance its Robinsons River project.

    "Our first drill hole was completed before the Christmas holidays in late 2023, in which salt was hit in the first hole," Sparkes says.

    He added that the company has begun drilling its second hole, upon completion of which core from the two drill holes will be sent to the laboratory for analysis.

    The drilling of the second hole is designed to confirm the depth of the salt rock structures at the project as well as to assess the geological properties of the salt and non-salt rocks.

    Listed only since late December of 2022, Vortex Energy has assembled an impressively diverse team and proven its ability to raise capital and move expeditiously forward with project modeling and exploratory drilling. With completion of its second hole on the horizon, 2024 is shaping up to be an important year for the company as it enters a new phase of its multi-faceted growth strategy.

  • 10 Feb 2024 3:19 PM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    Research finds sidewalk salt is killing salmon. How can cities de-ice safely? (ubyssey.ca)

    In the January cold snap, the Lower Mainland leaped into action to clear the roads using salt, sand and snow plows. As the snow melted into the gutters though, it carried the salt with it.

    It trickled into streams where Coho salmon were hatching from their eggs. The tiny salmon, or alevins, hide in the gravel near their nests (called redds), feeding off of their round orange yolk sacs.

    For young salmon, road salt runoff can be deadly. A research project is using citizen science to monitor the impacts of road salting on freshwater fish in 30 streams in the Lower Mainland.

    Provincial guidelines set allowable salt levels for salmon, but they aren’t regularly monitored or enforced.

    Although the project is only in year two of a five year study, UBC zoology professor Dr. Patricia Dr. Patricia Shulte said the results so far are concerning.

    “There's a lot of salt getting into streams when we salt the roads, and the streams very frequently exceed acute guidelines,” said Schulte, who is also a a Canada Research Chair in Responses of Fish to a Changing Environment. “Our data so far suggests that the answer is yes, that these levels are high enough to harm salmon, especially if the pulses occur at particularly sensitive stages.”

    The study is a collaboration between staff from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, UBC, SFU, BCIT and the Pacific Streamkeepers Federation. They’re taking their data to cities in the Lower Mainland to discuss how to minimize road salt use.

    Volunteers measure streams’ salt content using bluetooth conductivity loggers, which measure the concentration of electricity-conducive salt ions. The data then goes to a public website that researchers and concerned citizens can monitor.

    When Vancouver freezes in January and February, the road salt run-off coincides with Coho salmon and rainbow trout hatching.

    According to Schulte, the salt is killing fish. The next step is figuring out exactly how the salt is harming them, and why it harms some more than others.

    Fish maintain balance between water and salt concentrations through a process called osmoregulation.

    “At the time they're hatching, there's so many other demands on [their] body that [they] just don't have the energy to osmoregulate properly, and that's what's killing them,” said Schulte. “Or, that’s the hypothesis we’re testing.”

    Road salt use rising

    In Canada, the amount of road salt has been increasing by 2.5 per cent each year for the past decade.

    “The data does clearly show that the use of road salt is increasing over time, which probably has to do with more severe winter weather,” said Schulte.

    While climate change is usually associated with warmer temperatures, some scientists theorize that the warming Arctic is disrupting the polar vortex and allowing cold weather systems to escape. This could contribute to cold snaps like the West Coast saw in January. While we can generally expect warmer winters going forward, we can also expect more unusual freeze events — requiring proactive and sustainable strategies to safely de-ice streets.

    Vancouver allocates 3,000 tons of salt each winter — although the city aims to limit use, and encourages people to avoid salting their private property when possible.

    Since campus isn't part of Vancouver, UBC Facilities has their own salt stash: "160 tonnes of road salt, 80 tonnes of salt/sand combo, 80 tonnes of sand, 500 bags of de-icing salt" and more, according to UBC Director of Municipal Services Jenniffer Sheel.

    Starting at 4 a.m. on snow days, the de-icing team focuses on high-priority areas like medical clinics, childcare facilities and academic buildings to clear important sidewalks while trying to minimize salt use.

    “The cities around here already have this on their radar as something that they should be doing,” said Schulte. “It’s just a matter of the best way to do it.”

    The timing of road salt application is also important. Road salt only works when applied before the road ices over, as it lowers the freezing temperature of water.

    "We apply preventative measures based on weather conditions (precipitation, temperature and wind) and where possible reduce our salt use with brine applications or a combination of salt/sand," wrote Sheel in an email to The Ubyssey. "Our priority is public safety and we have found salt to be the most effective application when we are battling ice."

    Channels by the side of the road, called bioswales (like those on 16th Ave near campus), can also use plants and landscaping to absorb runoff before it enters the water system.

    One of Schulte’s recommendations is to salt less, and only where it's most needed.

    “It's unlikely that we’ll entirely stop using road salt because it's very important for safety, but we want to provide the data to show that we should be careful with how we use it.”

  • 09 Feb 2024 9:25 AM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    Western researchers study winter road salt and its impact - Western News (westernu.ca)

    The crunch of salt underfoot and the stain on your winter boots is all part of a typical Canadian winter. But what if there was a way to make it better for the Earth, the asphalt and the cars or bikes travelling over it? 

    Western researchers are studying nine varieties of winter road salt and its corrosive effects on six different types of metals. They’ll investigate how the different salts help or harm icy roads, infrastructure and the environment.  

    Yolanda Hedberg

    Yolanda Hedberg, Canada Research Chair in Corrosion Science (Håkan Lindgren photo)

    The study, jointly led by chemistry professor Yolanda Hedberg and engineering professor Chris Power, is in its second year. It has garnered attention on Western’s campus this winter, thanks to a cordoned-off area near the chemistry building on Perth Drive where samples of steel are sprayed with various salt brines once a week.  

    “Salt is not sustainable. We are basically turning our Great Lakes into oceans if we continue this way. We are completely changing the ecosystem with the use of salt,” Hedberg said. 

    The team is examining a range of different salts – from sodium chloride, the kind we use on food, to magnesium chloride to pure sodium acetate – to determine which ones perform best melting snow and ice or providing traction. At the same time, they’re measuring the effects on soil, roads and different metals used in cars, bikes and assets like bridges. 

    Metal sample road salt study

    A metal sample corroded by the salt brines being tested by Western researchers. (Christopher Kindratsky/Western Communications photo)

    Western researchers are working with Facilities Management and a private company testing an organic road salt in hopes it will be less damaging. 

    “It’s a big interest-generating problem because it’s so relevant, and so applied,” Hedberg said.  

    That interest is apparent among university staff and faculty. Western’s campus is carefully maintained in the winter by a team of 17 university staff and additional contractors in the worst of the season. 

    Western Facilities are partners. They gave us the salt used on campus, a lot of expertise and signage, and they help us to perform the salt spreading on Perth Drive at night. It’s quite a committed team,” Hedberg said. 

     

    Salt is a ‘tool in the toolbox’

    Looking for innovative ways to evolve winter maintenance strategies is always top of mind for the Facilities Management team, said landscape services manager Mike Lunau. All but a few of the staff involved have extensive training on the science of snow and ice management, beyond a typical industry level, he said. 

    Mike Lunau, manager, Landscape Services

    Mike Lunau, manager, Landscape Services (Christopher Kindratsky/Western Communications photo)

    “We take our role as stewards of the facilities on campus, including its natural environments, very seriously,” Lunau said. “The connected nature of campus and the impact on the Thames River ecosystem is not lost on myself or any of my team. Any opportunity we have to engage in research to support that, to optimize our use of anti-icing and de-icing products, it’s always great to take those opportunities.” 

    Western’s team uses a combination of treated and untreated salts to better target various temperature ranges over a winter. The goal is always to use the least amount of salt and employ it alongside other options to keep the campus clear and safe. 

    “We think about timing. We use salt as a tool in that toolbox, to prevent bonding of snow and ice to surfaces, so we can mechanically clear (the roads and pathways) and use less salt,” Lunau said. 

    As technologies advance, it’s also becoming more realistic and achievement to use products that have fewer effects on the environment or infrastructure. Lunau’s team is examining new options – such as using liquids, essentially salt brines with a lower chloride content – and strategies that may better protect the environment while still offering a fiscally responsible approach. 

    The tide is changing for many institutions and players, he said. 

    “The industry as a whole is aware of and conscious of the environmental impacts. There are many really advocating and pushing the boundaries of technologies and material sciences.” 

     

    Sustainability work extends to winter maintenance 

    The road salt study is now one of the projects under Western’s Campus as a Living Lab initiative, which merges academics and the university’s commitment to sustainability by bringing together faculty, staff and students to do research right on campus.  

    A new internal grant, the Western Sustainable Impact Fund, also provided funding for the road salt research.  

    Robert Addai, a PhD candidate in chemistry supervised by Hedberg, said the research is about comparing today’s costs – both financial and environmental – to those over the long term. 

    “We know Canada uses a lot of sodium chloride because it is cheap. We don’t take into consideration the side effects, the future costs, we only think about now. This is why we want to analyze sodium chloride compared to other salts, to see which one will benefit us today and tomorrow,” Addai said. 

    Balancing effectiveness, impact and cost is the goal, both for researchers and those tossing the salt.  

    For Addai, it’s simply part of the scientific equation. 

    “Like we say, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. For us, we are trying to keep the snow away from the road. But the salt can also corrode metal, it melts into the waterbodies. As scientists, we always do a risk assessment. With every product, we consider, ‘How much is this helping and how much is this harming the society?’” – Robert Addai, PhD candidate in chemistry

    This study is very important because at the end of the day we want to find a type of salt that is beneficial for pedestrians and cars, and also helps melt the snow. We must consider the environmental impact on grasses, plants and animals as we are checking the cost.” 

    Hedberg, who is also an engineer, lived in Sweden for more than a decade, where she worked part-time as a politician in a suburb of Stockholm. She provided scientific knowledge to the technical committee responsible for winter maintenance and bike lanes, saying it was rewarding to “contribute to democracy and the community.” 

    There, she saw other ideas for snow clearing, such as the Swedish approach of clearing sidewalks, cycling and bus lanes first, before roads. In her home country of Germany, property owners are prohibited from putting salt on their own stairs, with stiff penalties and fines for those flouting the rules, thanks to the potential for structural damage. 

    “It’s quite fascinating to see how other countries address this,” Hedberg said. 

    The current project wraps up this year, but there is interest in partnering next with a municipality, applying the research findings across an entire community.  

    “We hope our results can convince municipalities this can be done (using alternative salts),” Hedberg said. 

  • 06 Feb 2024 3:58 PM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    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

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

    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 snowy road with heavy traffic

    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.”

  • 06 Feb 2024 3:57 PM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    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 CANADIAN PRESS)

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


  • 05 Feb 2024 9:06 AM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    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. 

  • 18 Jan 2024 3:46 PM | Smart About Salt (Administrator)

    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 snow from a sidewalk in West End, Vancouver as heavy snowfall at dusk turned roads slippery on Jan. 4, 2020.

    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)

    Social Sharing

    • Facebook
    • X
    • Email
    • Reddit
    • LinkedIn

    414

    comments

    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: 

    Snow Angel helps shovel snowy Vancouver streets

    1 day ago

    Duration1:00

    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.

    "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: 

    How to shovel and stay safe

    3 days ago

    Duration7:

    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 is pictured holding a shovel amid a snowy park, with stringy bare trees and homes in the far background covered in snow.

    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.

    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., during a winter storm on Jan. 11, 2024.

    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.

    "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."


<< First  < Prev   1   2   3   4   5   ...   Next >  Last >> 

© Smart About Salt Council.  Smart About Salt is a trademark and the Smart About Salt logo is a registered trademark of the Smart About Salt Council.


Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software