Seeing piles of white in winter is a regular occurrence in Wisconsin.
And it's not snow.
While salting has the positive effect of melting ice on the road and sidewalks, it can also have some negative effects — especially when overdone. For communities along the shore of Lake Michigan, contamination of the lake from runoff is something to consider.
It takes one teaspoon of salt to permanently pollute five gallons of water — with no easy way to remove the chloride, according to a road salt reduction presentation by Cudahy’s department of public works on the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources website.
Benjamin Benninghoff of the DNR said chloride can be toxic to aquatic life. Additionally, there can be a human health impact in drinking water if it’s not properly removed both from the lake and/or groundwater.
The Environmental Protection Agency shows the chloride level in Lake Michigan increases by about 0.1 milligrams per liter each year. This pollution largely comes from road salt and other activities, according to a February 2010 article in Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, put out by the DNR.
The Cudahy presentation cites contamination levels solely from Milwaukee County communities (excluding the city of Milwaukee) affecting 0.2% of the entire volume of Lake Michigan over a 10-year period solely from road salt runoff.
How communities are trying to help
Some methods commonly suggested to mitigate the use of salt — which, in turn, would cut lake contamination — include the addition of sand to road salt or using more creative de-icing methods of cheese brine or even beet juice mixed with salt. But those methods can get expensive and messy.
Salt brine — a mixture of salt with standard tap water — is another option being used by many South Shore communities.
“Salt brine has been used effectively in several ways,” Benninghoff said. “Both for anti-icing and de-icing, depending on how you use it.”
Oak Creek’s Director of Public Works Ted Johnson recently petitioned for the city to purchase salt brine equipment.
How can you tell if salt brine has been used? A giveaway is when wet lines are visible on the roadway.
The Cudahy presentation cited about 80 pounds of salt are needed per mile for a single application before a storm.
The goal of such a system is to pretreat roads to prevent ice from forming and activate salt more quickly, to prevent ice from forming and cut back on overall salt usage. Johnson said he’s not into “gimmicky stuff,” but added that salt brine is “pretty tried and true.”
Impact of brine
Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz acknowledged the minimized environmental impactof using brine.
“The less (salt) we put down, the less environmental impact there is to the rivers and streams and everything else going on,” he said.
Cutting back on salt usage also has a financial impact for cities. Johnson said the Racine Department of Public Works was able to cut its salt usage by a third by using a salt brine system.
Oak Creek purchased a brine system for about $157,000. The system could save the city between $90,000 and $100,000 annually, according to City Administrator Andrew Vickers.
Vickers said the city spends about $326,000 each year on salt.
Johnson said Franklin has been using a salt brine system effectively, and South Milwaukee is looking into purchasing a system.
Cudahy first implemented pretreatment brine for the 2016-2017 season. For that season and the next, the city reduced its salt use per weather event from 17.8 tons to 13.9 tons.
While there are no specific regulations that apply to communities along the shore of Lake Michigan when it comes to salting, Benninghoff stressed that not only communities but private businesses and homeowners should be cognizant of how much salt they use.
“Provide safety, but only apply the amounts necessary,” he said.
Contact Erik S. Hanley at (262) 875-9467 or erik.hanley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ES_Hanley.
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These South Shore communities are cutting down on salting to protect Lake Michigan and save money - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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