Balancing Safety, Cost, and Environmental Impacts
Given the environmental harm, infrastructure damage, and health risks linked to salt use, it’s important to find ways to reduce salt application while keeping surfaces safe and controlling costs.
Best Management Practices
Best Management Practices (BMPs) are methods, techniques, or practices that are proven to be effective and practical for preventing or reducing pollution and minimizing environmental impacts, while being economically and technically feasible:
Remove snow before deicing
Shovel, blow, sweep, or plow snow off paved surfaces before using salt. Get out early before your drive or walk on your driveway or steps. You may not need salt after snow removal.
Use the right deicer
Choose the right deicer. The most common deicer, sodium chloride, works best between 32°F and 15°F. In colder temperatures, a blend containing calcium or magnesium chloride can work down to about 0°F. In colder temperatures, use sand or other abrasives for traction. Be sure to read the label for the chemical compound type and temperature conditions.
Application rates
If you are doing a decent job of removing snow and ice physically, it doesn’t take much salt to melt the remaining amount. An appropriate application rate for sodium chloride is one to four pounds of salt (a full 12-ounce coffee mug is about one pound), for a 20x50-foot driveway or 10 sidewalk squares (1,000 square feet). The salt crystals will be about 2-3 inches apart – not overlapping or piled up. Additional salt may be needed if there is compacted snow or ice. Sweep up any salt that is over-applied and reuse it.
The Application Rates section provides a deep dive on this topic!
Proper salt storage
Store salt in a dry area indoors. A secondary container such as a 5-gallon bucket with a secure lid can store salt securely. Label your storage container and keep a cup, or better yet a hand spreader or shaker, with your salt.
Alternative materials
If you can get by without bare pavement or for colder temperatures, use an abrasive material such as sand. Sand will provide traction on the ice, but it will not melt the ice. You can also use salt only on your sidewalk and a walking path down your driveway rather than the whole driveway to limit salt use.
Other abrasives such as chicken grit, kitty litter, or cherry stone also provide traction. Non-chloride deicers—such as acetates and formates—and additives like beet juice are also available. They work at varying temperatures and many are mixed with a chloride deicer. These are expensive than rock salt.
Liquid deicers are also an option that allow for less use of salt. They are often used to anti-ice (pre-treat) before a storm so that physical removal of snow and ice is easier.
Fix drainage problems
Identify and repair drainage problems that result in ice formation on your property such as a downspout that runs across your driveway or a leaking rain gutter above your entryway steps. These areas are prone to drip meltwater onto your sidewalk and driveway that may require salt to reduce ice build-up. Fixing drainage issues will improve safety, reduce salt use, and prevent damage to concrete from salt.