Weather, transportation ills pinch supplies
Last winter's snowstorms and this year's hurricanes and floods, combined with high fuel costs, have led to a run on salt, especially in areas supplied by barges on the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The Village of Libertyville, Ill., and other municipalities in northern Illinois, for example, have seen their prices skyrocket from $41.35 per ton to $138.52 per ton. In response, some public works directors are taking steps to stretch their supplies and increase the capacity of their storage facilities in preparation for next winter.
The problem is not supply; there is plenty of salt in the mines, says Dick Hanneman, executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based Salt Institute. However, a long, harsh Midwest winter led some public works departments to run low or run out of salt last year, so they increased their orders this year. "If they got 1 million tons last year, they asked for 1.5 million [this year]," says Mark DeVries, maintenance supervisor for McHenry County, Ill., Division of Transportation. "[Suppliers] can get you the 1 million, but it's the other half they cannot guarantee."
Also, last spring's floods closed the locks and dams along the Upper Mississippi for four weeks, delaying salt delivery to regional storage facilities and customers. While the Mississippi route has re-opened, the stoppage increased competition for available barges, and spiked demand for trucks, rail cars and ships.
The National Weather Service is predicting average precipitation for the Rust Belt between January and March, while the East Coast and states west of the Mississippi are expected to get average or below-average snowfall. With that forecast, local governments that cannot obtain extra salt should consider methods and technologies that can stretch existing supplies, DeVries says. For example, McHenry County is slowly equipping their salt trucks with computerized dispensing systems that help keep salt from being wasted. "But an 8.5-inch touch-screen computer costs a lot more than a valve and cable [release system] so it takes awhile to equip a full fleet," DeVries says.
If there is a danger that an agency's salt supply will run out, officials should warn the public about the problem and the likely consequences as soon as possible, DeVries says. "Talk about what has transpired and what course of action the agency has taken," he says. DeVries recommends including law enforcement and emergency response personnel in the discussions because they are the other first responders in a storm and can help educate the public. When getting the word out, be clear about what motorists can expect on road surfaces after a storm, Hanneman says.
Hanneman recommends planning for winter 2010 now. "Since the 1970s, we have been encouraging our customers to store 100 percent of their five-year average before the season starts," Hanneman says. "If they are only storing 20 percent, it is not an assured system."
Larry Schneider, superintendent of streets for Fort Collins, Colo., took that advice. The city recently built a 10,000-ton road salt storage facility and is storing 150 percent of its average annual supply of 6,000 tons.
The salt shortage could be viewed as "a great opportunity … to revaluate purchasing practices," DeVries says. "We are now confronted with not only being effective, but also being efficient, and with the challenge of doing more with less."
Liz Boardman is a Wakefield, R.I.-based freelance writer.
