\n\tSalt is a spectacular substance. Chemically, salt is a compound. This is because it (at least the type of salt we think of most often)\u00a0is made of sodium and chloride (NaCl)\u00a0and\u00a0these two elements are joined by a chemical bond. The chemical bond between sodium and chloride forms a solid with a structure that is repeated and ordered. This makes salt\u00a0a crystal. Salt is also a rock. Specifically, salt is a type of sedimentary rock called halite. Halite is a mineral, so salt is also a mineral. Plus, salt is a necessary nutrient that humans and animals require to exist. In addition to being a compound, a crystal, a rock, a mineral, and a nutrient, salt can save lives. When spread on\u00a0our roads, parking lots, and driveways, it reduces the freezing point of water, thereby preventing ice formation and minimizing accidents\u00a0during winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tSalt has been used to prevent ice formation on roads and other pavements for the past 85 years. Its use has continued to increase over time, growing from about 5,000 tons spread on US roads in 1940 to about 23 million tons today. That amount of salt is difficult to picture, but it equates to a traffic jam of large snowplow trucks filled with salt that spans from Burlington to Seattle, back to Burlington and west again to Glacier National Park. That much salt is spread on US roads, parking lots, and driveways every year.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe impacts of such extreme salt use \u2013 and a negative side to this amazing substance \u2013 are observed in the natural and built environment alike. Lakes\u2019 natural processes and food webs have been altered. Groundwaters, including drinking water wells, have become contaminated. Soils have become less permeable and microbial communities within them have been transformed. Vegetation has died. Concrete sidewalks and steps have corroded, and doors, bridges, and cars have rusted. In turn, communities, universities, businesses, and individuals have paid millions to repair\u00a0and replace infrastructure damaged by road salt.\u00a0Continuing to salt in the way we have done for the past several decades is unnecessary. We can do better for our pocketbooks, the environment, infrastructure, and our health.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe good news is that there are actions we can take to reduce the amount of salt that is used during winter on roads, parking lots, and other surfaces. These actions\u00a0— that we call sustainable salting practices — can slow the negative impacts salt has on the natural world and\u00a0on infrastructure.\u00a0Snow and ice management professionals (sometimes called \u201csnow fighters\u201d), businesses,\u00a0and individuals can implement sustainable salting practices.<\/p>\n
\n\tLake Champlain Sea Grant recently developed a series of fact sheets that describe sustainable salting practices that snow fighters can use. Understanding the practices that snow fighters can employ is important for not only the snow fighters themselves, but for community leaders who are involved in decision making, for businesses that employ snow fighters, and for individuals who will be asked to weigh in on community decisions or who hire private contractors to manage snow and ice on their properties in the winter.<\/p>\n
\n\tWithin each fact sheet,\u00a0one sustainable salting practice is defined. The\u00a0benefits and challenges associated with the practice, general costs to get set up to use the practice, and considerations for those implementing and\/or being asked to support implementation of the practice are described. Each fact sheet also includes a list of, and links to, companies that market products that allow snow fighters to implement the practice. To help snow fighters be able to share and learn from one another, a list of communities and businesses in the Lake Champlain basin\u00a0that are known to be using the practice is included. Finally, when available,\u00a0links to videos, success stories, and other resources to learn more about the practice are included. Communities and businesses that are not identified in the fact sheet to be using a practice but that are using it are encouraged to reach out to Lake Champlain Sea Grant to be added to the list.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tThe sustainable practices described in the fact sheets include calibration, precision salt tracking, use of road weather information stations (RWIS), measuring pavement temperatures, using a salt-water mixture to pre-wet dry rock salt, using a salt-water mixture to treat pavements without any application of dry or pre-wet rock salt, using segmented (multi-piece) plows, and adjusting salt application rates based on conditions. You can find them on our website on our Salt-Savvy resources page<\/a> or in our resources<\/a> if you search \u201csalt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Salt is a spectacular substance. Chemically, salt is a compound….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1124,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802\/revisions\/1124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/seagrant\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}