ASHLAND — It’s hard to think of snow after 90-degree days in early August.
But that’s exactly what Ashland’s street department is doing after receiving word from the Governor’s office that there is a grant incoming to improve snow removal efforts.
The city applied for a $66,595 grant from the state’s H2Ohio Chloride Reduction Grant Program earlier this year. On Thursday, Gov. Mike DeWine announced $2.7 million will be spread to 52 communities around Ohio to “upgrade equipment and salt storage facilities.”
Ashland made the list.
Jason Counts, Ashland’s city service director, said the money will be used to buy a large brine maker, two storage tanks and all the equipment needed to attach it to one of the city’s eight plows.
The brine will be spread to main roads ahead of winter storms. The idea is simple: pre-treating the roads will help those roads be clear by the time most drivers use them, Counts said.
How will it work?
Road salt is activated with water. That’s why the Ohio Department of Transportation pre-treats highways with brine ahead of inclement weather during winter months.
A plow clears snow in Ashland County in January 2022.
“We can’t spread salt until the roads are wet,” Counts said. “And even then, as soon as cars drive over it, it’s all moved to the side. Pre-treating the main roads will be more effective, reduce the amount of salt we seem to lose when we put it down and it gets pushed to the side.”
Counts estimates the brining system will save the city up to 75% on the cost of road salt. The city buys around 1,800 tons of it each year, he said.
This last season, Ashland spent $96,768 on road salt.
Preventing chloride contamination
The brining system is exactly the kind of thing the H2Ohio Chloride Reduction program aims to fund.
“Road salt is a necessity during the winter months, but it’s also a necessity that we do all we can to keep our waterways free from chloride contamination,” said DeWine in a prepared statement.
The Ohio EPA worked with the governor’s office to establish the H2Ohio Chloride Reduction grant program in late 2023. The funding program is part of H2Ohio, a water quality initiative created in 2019.
“Heavy salt runoff is toxic to aquatic life and can also pollute drinking water sources, leading to higher treatment costs and infrastructure corrosion,” reads a press announcement from H2Ohio.
There are no matching requirements attached to the grant, Counts said. He’s unsure when the money will become available.