Brine benefits: Contractors tackle the challenge of snow and ice control... in August?!

MILWAUKEE -- It's almost cruel to bring up snow storms on such a beautiful day as it was on Tuesday, August 16th. But it's in these summer months where people start planning how to keep our roads and environment safe in the winter months.

Presenters from SnowEx, an industry leader when it comes to ice control, are on a tour of the northern United States. They are preaching the gospel of salt brine to local plow companies and contractors.

"It's a little bit like going from the rotary phone age into that cell phone era," said Pam Buckley, SnowEx product manager. "That's essentially where the state of the art of the technology is in snow and ice control."

Here is the general idea. Instead of salting an area after it storms, you can treat roads beforehand with salt brine. Then when it snows, the brine creates a slushy bottom layer that is easier to plow away.

"Having our plow trucks go through and have clean pavement after their first swipe through a parking lot really does benefit us and helps maintain safe pavement for our customers," said Brad Frank of David J. Frank Landscape Contracting.

"That preventative approach requires about one-quarter the salt, about one tenth the overall cost," Buckley said.

Beyond the financial benefits of using less salt. the diluted mixture is also less destructive to the environment -- a real concern after decades of over-salting that seeps into the ground water.

"You have high levels of contamination in your water. It's coming from salt. And our industry is the industry that's doing it," said Daniel Gilliland, SnowEx training manager.