this year it’s “ClearLane.”
Just over a year ago. BP wrote up a piece about the “‘oatmeal-like’ mixture” being used by the Vermont Agency of Transportation.
This year, it’s ClearLane, which residents of Burlington have claimed causes physical pain to their dogs.
Do we need to start issuing safety warnings when we de-ice our roads?
The sidewalks green in winter,the lake blue in the summer.
Connection?
Chloride levels have been steadily rising in some areas of Lake Champlain over the last 20 years – not at toxic levels yet, but even to detect a steady increase in a huge dilution-factor lake like Champlain is concerning. Chloride in some urban streams in Burlington has risen to potentially biologically toxic levels (see the DEC Water Quality web site for details). Deicing products like ClearLane supposedly have the advantage of reducing chloride levels. I’m certainly not an apologist for Cargill (the maker of ClearLane) and I agree we should be skeptical of new products, but chloride is a problem also. If people aren’t willing to tolerate messy roads, stop tail gating and SLOW DOWN – which, based on the idiots I see on the roads seems to be the case – I think it’s worthwhile to consider more effective deicing products that provide the same level of safety but might reduce chloride pollution. The safety warnings about slowing down when roads are icy don’t seem to make any difference.
Incidentally, dog poop is also a significant water pollution problem in urban areas, since many dog owners fail to pick it up and properly dispose of it – leading to phosphorus and fecal pathogen run-off that ends up in the lake.
Friends of the Mad River has a nice article about the chloride pollution problem in Vermont.