¶¶Òõ̽̽ aims to be an institutional and community leader in reducing the effects of salt usage on the environment and on our built infrastructure while providing safe and efficient snow and ice removal from campus walkways, roads and parking areas. Our facilities management teams continually find ways to mitigate salt usage and actively engage on projects with faculty and researchers to leverage their expertise.
¶¶Òõ̽̽ Grounds Crew: Best Practices for Snow and Ice Removal
The ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Grounds crew follows these best practices for snow and ice removal on our campus.
- Secure storage of salt in constructed covered sheds to ensure that no salt leaches out from the structure.
- Pre-treatment of stored road salt with a liquid deicing product that enhances the melting capabilities of the salt in lower temperatures. The is made from refined corn carbohydrate derivative blended with magnesium chloride.
- Pre-treatment spraying of surfaces with anti-icing brine. This process helps ensure that snow and ice do not bond to the pavement, thus making it easier for plows and shovels to clear the snow after it arrives.
- Conducts annual staff training on best practices and optimal application rates of salt.
- Tracks the annual usage of salt so that crew can monitor changes over time.
Custodial Services: Smart Salting Practices in Many Languages
The Custodial Services department is an active partner in regional efforts to train, educate and do outreach related to reducing salt usage through its ongoing partnership with the Lake Champlain Sea Grant program. ¶¶Òõ̽̽'s Custodial training coordinator and custodial teams helped develop and produce a video series to show safe and effective methods for de-icing surfaces while minimizing the use of salt. Training is conducted in English, Nepali, Chinese, Vietnamese, and French.
Find additional training videos with audio translation in other languages on the Sea Grant's Reducing Use of Deicing Salt for Custodial Staff webpage.
2021 ¶¶Òõ̽̽ Salt Mitigation Task Force Presentation
In 2021, a group of staff, faculty, researchers and students came together to investigate interdisciplinary and data-driven solutions for reducing the use of road salt on the university campus. This informal task force only met several times yet helped spark many future campus initiatives around salt reduction goals. The original team presented a summary of their work during the 2021 Adirondack Champlain Regional Salt Summit. .