Salt Brine Solution Helps Sartell Maintain Snow Covered Roads

SARTELL -- The record snowfall this month has surely kept plow drivers busy.

Not only by plowing city streets and sidewalks, but working on clearing the large snow mounds blocking sight lines.

John Kothenbeutel is the Sartell Public Works Director. He says his department has a good system in place, especially when it comes to pre-treating roads with a salt brine solution.

We take our same road salt and throw it in our mixer and mix it with a 23 percent solution (77 percent water, 23 percent salt). So it's the same road salt we are using we just mix it into a liquid form and can spray it down on the road and it stays in place.

This is the third season Sartell has used this type of treatment, which is also being used in St. Cloud.

Kothenbeutal says statistically by using the solution, they can reduce the amount of salt use by one-third.

If I take a truck with a spinner on it, 25 percent of the salt with get knocked to the curb. Another 25 percent will get kicked up by the cars driving over it, so you got roughly a 50 percent solution if it stays.

He says the salt brine treatment is also a better solution to help protect the environment.

If you can lessen your salt use, you lessen the chloride in your receiving waters.

Kothenbeutal says they are thankful for the support of the city council and administration to be able to make these improvements for the city to help keep the roadways safe.