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MPCA Road Salt Education Program

Why a Road Salt Education Program?

As testing is conducted for chlorides, watersheds are being identified for chloride impairments.  An example of a suburban watershed with chloride impairment is The Shingle Creek Watershed. Based on the analysis from Shingle Creek Watershed chloride TMDL, roughly 7.5% of the road salt load is coming from private applicators.  These applicators generally clear parking lots, walkways and access roadways.  It is believed that as additional testing and analysis is will result in identification of additional watersheds with chloride impairments.

The 9th Annual Road Salt Symposium

Freshwater Society, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Fortin Consulting, and University of Minnesota LTAP
invite you to attend:

The 9th Annual Road Salt Symposium - Keeping Our Winter Roads Safe While Protecting Our Waters
February 3, 2010
Crowne Plaza Minneapolis North Hotel
Register at: http://www.freshwater.org/registration/

Background

In February 2005 a $25,000 Pollution Prevention (P2) grant was awarded to Fortin Consulting of Minneapolis.  The purpose of this grant was to develop and test an education outreach program to local government and private applicators of road salt.  The key objectives of the outreach were to:

• develop best management practices (BMPs) for application of road salt;
• develop a training program and conduct three pilot training sessions;
• follow-up those trained to learn what changes occurred as a result of using best management practices, as summarized in the following report:
  • Parking Lot Training Report

The target of this training is private applicators.  However, other interested parties and local government officials are also being trained.  In this way local officials will be knowledgeable about the training that is going on in their city, can learn the newest techniques, and be in a position to continue training in their city.  Also, cities have the opportunity at these training sessions to address the audience and cover any other environmental concerns affecting lakes and streams. 

Interim Project Results

• As the BMPs and training materials were developed for this project, no similar training was found.  The BMPs and training focused on smaller applicators may be the first of its type in the nation. 
• It was identified early on in the development of the training that a key the success of the training was going to be getting the target applicators to the 4-hr training.  Partners (local governments and watershed representatives) in the project helped identify and solicit target applicators.  Partners also offered free lunches as an incentive. 
• The first training in Minnetonka had about 25 in attendance.  This was considered a good turn out for a pilot training session.  The second training in North St Paul had a handful in attendance which was very poor.  The difference between the two at this point is speculated to be the fact that it was held on a 70 degree day in mid-October, so many of the target applicators were out completing pre-winter landscaping maintenance. 
• The training gives an excellent overview of the basic do’s and don’ts of de-icing.  The training then overviews BMPs, after which attendees learn how to determine when and how much deicing material to apply. 
• During the calculation training segment, the attendees determine how much in a typical application they apply now, and then they calculate how much how much they should be using according to what they just learned.  The results were astounding.  The lowest reduction in optimal road salt usage was around 75%.    (In one example a large metro shopping center was showed a reduction of 8500 lb/application of a treated road salt product – or approximately an 80% reduction).  
• The training ends up with the attendees taking a voluntary test.  The test includes a voluntarily commitment to apply the BMPs. 
• Finally, a certification was given to qualified individuals.  This Level I training certification is sent out to training participants agreeing to implement best management practices.  In the training evaluations, the idea of this voluntary certification was noted by many attendees as something they considered very important.

List of Individuals Certified

A voluntary certification was given to individuals who:

1. Attended Voluntary Training;
2. Completed and Passed the Associated Test; and
3. Agreed to Voluntarily Apply Best Management Practices to Reduce Chloride Impacts

The list of individuals given this voluntary certification to date is contained in the following document:

•  List of Individuals Who have been Certified

Training Schedule

Because of the initial success of the pilot project, Fortin Consulting has received a 319 grant to conduct additional training sessions in Minnesota. The following training schedule is changed periodically as training events are completed/added.

• Schedule of Upcoming Training

Maintenance Manual and In-Truck Clip Board

In the Spring of 2006, additional P2 funds were provided to develop written materials to be used by applicators.  Under this approach, a technical advisory group was formed to provide input into a winter maintenance manual.  It was originally thought the manual would be compact in an effort to encourage applicators to have it available in their vehicle.  After a number of meetings with the technical advisory group it was decided to split off key charts and information critical to have in a vehicle before, during and after winter storm events.  This created a stand alone manual and two pages of charts/critical information (clip board pages). 

• Winter Parking Lot and Sidewalk Maintenance Manual (June 2008) – this manual will be used and handed out as a reference document during the training sessions.  A copy of the manual will be given to each training participant as a take home reference document.

• Clip Board Pages – for applicators attending training will be given a clip board containing critical information.  The hope is that this clip board will be a useful tool for applicators to keep in there vehicles during storm events.

Additional Winter Maintenance Manual Resources

Calibration:

• Control Point Calibration
• Open Loop Calibration
• Calibrating Manual Sanders
• Calibration Data Record

Sample Snow Policies:

• Scott County Snow Policy
• Goodhue County Snow Policy
• Olmsted County Snow Policy
• City of Eagan Road and Trail Snow Policy

Future Steps

• Expand existing training and voluntary certification nationally and internationally to cold weather climate areas.
• Modify training to create a training and voluntary certification programs for road maintenance activities.
• Adapt training to landscaping best management practices to reduce chemical loading on lawn and landscape areas (many of the same individuals/companies providing winter maintenance services, also provide warm weather lawn and landscape services) . 

Contact Information

For additional regarding this program contact:

Andrew Ronchak
651-558-6157
andrew.ronchak@pca.state.mn.us 

Related Links

• Minnesota Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP)
• Circuit Training and Assistance Program (CTAP)-Snow and Ice Control
• Minnesota Snow and Ice Control Handbook (2005)