Cohousing-L Mailing List: Ice melt

[Fred-List manager (fholson]

Denise Tennen <denisetennen [at] gmail.com>
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the Cohousing-L management team <cohousing-l-owner [at] cohousing.org>
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--------------------  FORWARDED MESSAGE FOLLOWS --------------------
Subject: Ice melt

Re ice melt
Our coho is in Minnesota with plenty of ice on our roads and
driveways.

Because 1 tsp of ice melt permanently pollutes 5 gallons of water we
have opted to be as rigorous as we can with shoveling down to pavement
as well as chopping ice build up with ice chopper tools

Any remaining icy spots we sprinkle liberally with coarse sand

We keep shovels, choppers and sand buckets in multiple locations along
our paths and driveways 

Keep in mind if you do use ice melt. Per our city you need no more
than a grain of salt for every 3 inches. They also provided the tsp to
gallon info and the info that salt is completely ineffective if temps
are below 15-20 degrees

I don’t have experience with salt brine but I’ve heard you need
less of it and it is slightly less damaging

Here’s more detailed info on how salt pollutes water 

One teaspoon of  icemelt (road salt) is enough to permanently
pollute five gallons of water.  This means that a single gallon of
water is permanently polluted by approximately one-fifth of a
teaspoon of ice melt.  The pollution is considered "permanent"
because once chloride from the salt dissolves in water, there is no
feasible or cost-effective way to remove it, and it does not break
down over time. Elevated chloride levels are toxic to freshwater
plants, fish, and other aquatic life, and can impact drinking water
supplies and infrastructure.  [LINK] [www.pca.state.mn.us] It’s not
what you were asking about, but these are more reasons to keep salt
buckets out of your common space

Denise Tennen
Monterey Cohousing Community
St Louis Park, MN
Sent from my iPhone