Hold the Salt!
This year, use less salt when clearing snow at home. It pollutes our rivers, lakes and streams. Frequent shoveling is best! Limit your use of salt at home with these tips:
- Shovel early and often to avoid using salt or deicers altogether.
- Consider a deicer such as magnesium chloride and check labels for proper application tips.
- Use as little deicer as is needed to get the job done.
- Limit your use of sand. Instead of melting ice, sand provides traction. But it also increases the amount of sediment in our lakes, rivers and streams when it washes into storm drains with melting snow.
- Promptly remove slush and any residual salt, sand or deicer from concrete surfaces to minimize polluted runoff.
When choosing the best snow removal techniques for your home, it is up to you to balance needs for safety, potential environmental impacts, costs and convenience.