Road salt, smart salting and winter maintenance

For information on model snow and ice policies and examples, click on this link.

MPCA recommends a low-salt diet for Minnesota waters. Doctors tell us to stick to a low-salt diet. Our lakes and streams should follow the same advice. When winter comes and snow and ice build up on Minnesota roads, parking lots, and sidewalks, one of the most common reactions is to apply salt, which contains chloride, a water pollutant.

Salt pollutes. When snow and ice melts, the salt goes with it, washing into our lakes, streams, wetlands, and groundwater. It takes only one teaspoon of road salt to permanently pollute 5 gallons of water. Once in the water, there is no way to remove the chloride, and at high concentrations, chloride can harm fish and plant life. Less is more when it comes to applying road salt.

The following table of contents summarizes pages and sections in the manual that address road salt, Smart Salting (S2), and winter maintenance.

• Overview and impacts of road salt and deicers
  • How salt works and overview of deicing chemicals
  • Environmental impacts of road salt and other de-icing chemicals
  • Other impacts of road salt use
• Information on costs and economic impacts of road salt
• Management tools
  • Minnesota Statewide Chloride Management Plan
  • Smart Salting Assessment tool (SSAt)
  • Model Ordinances
  • Model Snow and Ice Policies
• MPCA Smart Salting Training Program
  • Smart Salting Training Program
  • Smart Salting Training Calendar
  • Resources for Winter Maintenance Professionals
  • Chloride Reduction Assistance
• Education Resources
  • Educational resources for Smart Salting (S2). For more information on chloride resources, see Statewide chloride resources
  • Success stories: salt reduction and cost saving examples
  • Technical reports and Chloride TMDLs
  • Chloride and NPDES Permits
• References for Smart Salting (S2) and road salt winter maintenance
• Chloride and groundwater
  • Impacts of stormwater infiltration on chloride in Minnesota groundwater - White paper produced for the Minnesota Groundwater Association
  • Calculator for estimating chloride loading to groundwater
  • Guidance for calculator to estimate chloride loading to groundwater from infiltration