|
I don’t know about you, but as the end of February draws near, I’m ready for the END OF WINTER.
After all these weeks of cold temperatures, piles of snow and way-too-early sunsets, spring really is just around the corner. But it’s not here yet and in the midst of yet another forecast of freezing temperatures and snow showers, I’d like to share a small, but welcoming ray of good news sunshine on how we deal with winter in Oakland County.
For the last three years, our Facilities Management team has completely transitioned from using rock salt to spreading a brine mixture to deal with snow and ice in our county complex. When you’re looking at 4 million square feet of roadways, sidewalks and parking lots, that change has significant environmental and cost benefits for the county.
Instead of using about 50 tons of salt on those 92 acres every time it snows or sleets, the team now uses about 10 tons of salt mixed with water. It’s a complex calculation that computes the salinity of the mixture and the melt point of the snow and ice. But it works and the benefits are real, according to Mark Baldwin, the county’s Chief of Landscape Services.
The mixture is far less corrosive to not only the pavement and grounds at the county complex, but to the trucks that spread the brine, meaning the trucks aren’t rusting as quickly, thus extending their useful life.
And the rock salt that we previously used contained both rocks and sand that clogged the drains as spring rains washed the debris down the sewers. Those clogs are happening less frequently and there is not as much to clean up when spring FINALLY arrives and the street sweepers gather up those lingering remnants of winter.
The bottom line – despite the price of salt nearly doubling in the last few years, we now spend about $35,000 LESS on salt while continuing to keep our employees and the residents who visit the county complex safe in the winter months and better protecting the environment. I’d like to give a special shout-out to our maintenance team, who has been on the job almost non-stop since the first snow in late November, working all but three days in January and almost every day in February. The only holiday they didn’t have to work this year was Christmas Day.
So, a big hats’ off to the crews who work tirelessly to keep our pathways and roadways clear and a special plea to Mother Nature to send that beautiful Michigan spring weather to us quickly – we're ready for it!
|
