With snowy days on the horizon, a recent Clear Roads project may help winter maintenance teams understand how chloride-based deicers migrate into roadside soil through runoff — and what this means for groundwater and other environmentally susceptible areas.
The project examined the migration of chloride deicers through different soil textures and how agricultural-based additives such as beet juice (often used to enhance performance and decrease corrosion) affect that process. Researchers performed tests and collected outflow samples of the various solutions, revealing the amount of each that migrated through the soil and could potentially leach into groundwater over 72 hours.
Results indicated that chloride can migrate rapidly through common coarse- to medium-grained roadside soils, and the use of agricultural-based additives further increases migration capabilities. While deicers are still necessary to maintain safe road conditions, these findings provide valuable information for agencies to consider when planning winter maintenance — such as the need for extra caution and site-specific evaluation when using additives in areas with highly permeable soils or susceptible water sources.
Visit the Clear Roads web page to read the final project report or view a one-page fact sheet on developing localized treatment plans.
