Salting Roads

The ICPRB has been working with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission to decrease salt levels in area streams. The plan is to implement a voluntary management of the use of salts for roadways and walkways through the implementation of the Salt Management Strategy just published by the ICPRB and VDEQ.

Analyses from three different studies at multiple locations have found increasing freshwater salinization in Northern Virginia. Salts are very effective at deicing roads; however, after application, the salts are washed off into local waterways or seep through soils into groundwater systems with negative impacts on water quality and the environment. Salts pollute drinking water sources and are very costly to remove. The only available technology to remove salt from the source water is reverse osmosis which is cost prohibitive and requires a significant amount of energy to run.   

Due to their corrosive nature, salts increase the costs of maintenance, repair, and replacement of infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, driveways, bridges, and pipes; similar effects are seen on vehicles and other property. Improved management and use of salts during winter weather events can maintain public safety and minimize the negative impacts of salty runoff.

For the past year the VDEQ and the Northern Virginia Regional Commission have gathered together stake holders to develop a Salt Management Strategy and has been holding public meeting to hear community concerns. Last week VDEQ virtually presented the Salt Management Toolkit to the public. It is a guide for the use of salt to increase public safety and reduce environmental impact.

The Salt Management Toolkit is Virginia’s first comprehensive and integrated strategy to improve the balance between the impacts and benefits of salt application. The toolkit is designed to encourage the continual improvement in winter maintenance practices, tracking salt use, evaluating implementation of best practices, monitoring improvements in water quality and increasing public awareness of the benefits and the unintended impacts of salt use. The Salt Management Toolkit establishes a solid foundation for the beginning of area-wide adaptive implementation of better salt management in the future by expanding the progress already made by VDOT in anti-icing of area roads by the use of brine solution.

For the past several years VDOT has sprayed a salt solution that is only about 23% salt to pretreat the interstates (66, 95, 395 and 495) and the major roads (for example Routes 1, 7, 28, 50, 15 etc.) In total VDOT only applies brine to pretreat 2,150 lane miles of interstates, major roads and bridges. You’ve seen the brine as light white lines sprayed in roadway lanes before storms. The anti-icing treatment is most effective during the first hour when it prevents the snow from bonding to the roadway. This makes it easier and more effective to plow a road and has been effective in reducing salt use.

Take a look at the Salt Management Toolkit. The 30-day public comment period: runs from January 22, 2021 through February 22, 2021. Following the comment period, VDEQ will address community comments and transition into the implementation of the Salt Management Strategy.