The City's Salt Optimization Strategy is a multi-departmental collaborative effort, which strives to optimize road salt use within Barrie to maintain safe surfaces for pedestrian and vehicular traffic, while minimizing the environmental impacts related to its storage, handling and application. The Salt Optimization Strategy was adopted by City Council on December 19, 2016, through motion 16-G-307.
The strategy was established to complement the City’s Salt Management Plan, which speaks to all major activities related to winter maintenance, operational practices, including current road salt management practices, and strategies, as well as the Winter Operations Plan, which focuses more specifically on winter maintenance services provided by the municipality.
View the Salt Optimization Strategy for full information, including maps of the vulnerable areas identified, details on the salt vulnerability index, a full list of recommendations and more.
Goals
The City strives to minimize road salt's impacts to the environment by encouraging reduced road salt use in areas where this reduction will not impact pedestrian and vehicular safety. It also strives to optimize current winter maintenance practices to achieve an overall reduction in road salt application, while delivering the expected level of service to its customers.
To achieve these goals, best management practices, education and outreach initiatives, and improvements to current technology are considered. The Salt Optimization Strategy includes a series of recommendations, which were established to meet these goals.
Background
The Salt Optimization Strategy was initially launched as part of a source water protection initiative to protect sources of drinking water from rising sodium and chloride concentrations, as per policy number SALT(ICA)-3 within the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan (2015).
Source water protection is a concept which gained status as a result of the Walkerton tragedy and the ensuing inquiry into the events. Following the inquiry, recommendations were made, and it was determined that the best way to manage our drinking water resources is through a multi-barrier approach, beginning with protection at the source. The Clean Water Act (2006) was instated to provide legislative guidance and authority to establish this barrier to protect sources of drinking water from potential significant threats for current and future generations.
As a requirement under the Clean Water Act, an evaluation of drinking water issues was completed for the City of Barrie drinking water supply system in 2010. It found concentrations of sodium and chloride for certain municipal supply wells within the central portion of the city were trending to exceed Ontario Drinking Water Quality Standards within the next 50 years.
To start addressing this increasing trend, risk management plans were needed for activities related to the handling, storage and application of road salt, as well as the storage of snow within the City’s chloride and sodium Issues Contributing Areas. As a community leader, the City of Barrie opted to develop the City-wide Salt Optimization Strategy instead of the traditional risk management plan. By doing so we are leading by example, demonstrating to the community that safe and environmentally conscious road salt management and winter maintenance practices are a priority for the municipality.