TCMA Chloride Management Plan - Prioritizing and Implementing Restoration and Protection - Policy makers
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State, county, city policy makers, and those that make policy to govern other entities have an important role to play in chloride management. Policy is the tool that helps speed up behavior change in areas where behavior change is not progressing or progressing fast enough. One of the challenges facing policy makers is that they may not fully understand the environmental impacts of salt. In order to enable policy makers to be more active in this area, information about the environmental impacts of salt and awareness of the existing voluntarily efforts to improve salt reductions is necessary. There are many policies and actions that can be considered to assist with reducing salt use.
Example: Years 1-2
- Better understand environmental impacts of salt use and ways the constituents contribute.
- Understand options for reducing chloride use.
- Support the implementation of the CMP.
- Develop a limited liability law to protect private contractors from being sued if they are following BMPs under the Smart Salting (S2) training, similar to New Hampshire. Fear of law-suits often drives over application of salt.
- Create an ordinance for city that all salt and salt/sand piles must be stored indoors and on an impermeable surface.
Example: Years 3-5
- Require statewide certification of salt applicators similar to the Department of Agriculture’s pesticide applicator certification program.
- Require all new construction to have irrigation water and drinking water plumbed so as to not pass through the water softening.
- Require water softeners that recharge by the time of day and not by the salinity of water be banned from sale.
- Provide funding to various state agencies to support local implementation of salt reduction practices.
- Discuss lower levels of service with constituents.
Example: Years 6-10
- Develop labeling laws for deicers sold in MN so ingredients are listed along with practical. melting range. Also should include warning about the environmental impacts of using the material.
- Policies should be reviewed to determine effectiveness in chloride reductions.
- Work with other policy makers to understand the most effective policies.