State DOTs and local transportation agencies use winter maintenance operations to maintain safety and mobility on roadways in winter months. Since the 1960’s salt has been used as a roadway deicer to help melt snow and ice and aid in the plowing of snow and ice off the road. In the last 70 years advances have been made in product storage, deicing technologies, and winter maintenance operations including the identification and adoption of best practices and effective practices; allowing agencies to apply the right amount of material, in the right place, at the right time (RRRs). Despite these efforts, impacts to surface and ground water are being observed.
Results/Conclusions
This talk will explore surface and ground water environments most heavily impacted by deicers, why these impacts are occurring, and known issues in winter maintenance operations that have led to impacted surface and groundwater. For example, environments frequently impacted by poor deicer storage practices were surface and shallow ground water near deicer storage facilities. Overtime, upgrading product storage facilities and improving storage practices has significantly reduced these impacts. Now, we are observing slower longer-term trends of chloride loading to ground and surface water caused by not only storage practices but also decades of deicer applications. To reduce the amount of deicer used, as well as achieve increased efficiencies, BMPs are being implemented that also allow winter maintenance agencies to maintain the same level of service (LOS). Some of these BMPs will be discussed such as calibration of equipment, using liquid deicers, and upgrading to newer technologies. Finally, options to remove deicers from the environment will be discussed as well as the problem of applying stormwater BMPs for the purpose of treating deicer (re: chlorides).