Kitchener ups sand use amid salt shortage
Sand better for cold conditions, while both have impact on environment, experts say
The City of Kitchener trucked in about 1,000 tonnes of sand in a matter of days to deal with slippery roads and sidewalks last week.
That's more than the city typically uses in an entire season, but a salt shortage has forced municipal officials to turn to the product increasingly this winter.
Scott Berry is City of Kitchener's operations manager. He said the city typically uses rock salt to de-ice roads, but both sand and salt have their pros and cons.
"Generally we'll plow as much snow as possible and then we add salt," he said, adding the salt helps melt the ice, while sand only adds grip.
The Region of Waterloo's Eric Hodgins said most municipalities in southern Ontario use salt, either as a solid, liquid or a mixture of both.
"That's because of the temperature and the changes in temperature that we see in Ontario," he said.
Jeff Silcox-Child, director of environment and parks for the City of Waterloo said and salt is effective to about -10 C and quickly becomes less effective on ice when the temperature drops below that., which is when sand is used.
However, because of the province's salt shortage, Berry said the city may be using more sand on neighbourhood streets and keep the salt for city's major roads.
Meanwhile, other municipalities lean more heavily on sand year-round. In Winnipeg, a mixture of salt and sand is used, and then an annual cleanup is done in the spring.
"We've had some extremely cold temperatures this winter, colder than - 30 C, so when it's like that we're sanding around the clock," said Ken Allen with the City of Winnipeg.
Allen said the city adds salt brine and beat juice to the sand to help it stick to the roads.
Pros and Cons
Hodgins says salt is effective to de-ice roads in certain temperatures, but can cause problems with runoff and water quality. The salt municipalities put on the ground can cause water to taste salty over time.
Berry said Kitchener maintenance crews are trained to use as little sand as possible and use computer software in their salting trucks to control the amount of salt used.
The City of Waterloo has also made efforts to reduce the amount of salt they use. In 2017, Waterloo used used 7,730 tonnes of salt, compared to 13,614 tonnes in 2013.
But sand also has its issues. Hodgins said clean up costs in the spring can be quite high.
"It causes a lot of sand and gravel that needs to be cleaned up," he said. "It also enters into the storm-water management ponds."
Allen said it can take the City of Winnipeg between four and five weeks to clean up left over sand in the spring.