POWNAL – Crews from Pownal’s Public Works Department have begun to use a relatively new method to treat the town’s icy roads, one that comes with the added benefit of saving money and being gentler on the environment.

Pownal Road Commissioner Shawn Bennett, who is in charge of the department, said after an experiment that proved to be successful last winter, the town’s roads will all be treated with salt brine this winter, a solution of rock salt and water that has been proven to help prevent dangerously icy roads while using less rock salt.

According to the Maine Department of Transportation, which has been treating roads with salt brine for several years, the brine is sprayed on the pavement prior to a storm, and it helps to delay accumulation of snow and ice on the pavement.

After seeing other departments have success with the method, Bennett said, he decided to try using the brine on some of Pownal’s roads last winter to see if he could save some money, while at the same time keeping the roads safe.

The initial results were promising.

“The first time we went out, we did 700 gallons (of brine) over five miles. If we were going to pre-treat with regular rock salt, we would have used over 4,000 pounds,” Bennett said.

At a cost of 5 cents per gallon, he said, the brine costs the town $77, as opposed to $108 for the 4,000 pounds of rock salt.

“We’re trying to provide the safest roads as economically as possible,” Bennett said.

Because the brine contains only 23 percent rock salt per gallon, it leads to less salt being used. In the case of the first experimental use last winter, Bennett said, his department used about 2,600 pounds less salt with the brine than it would have with regular rock salt. And by using the brine and less rock salt, Bennett’s department is reducing the amount of salt that can get into the ground and eventually even into groundwater supplies.

“That is better for the environment,” he said.

He said that he is projecting that by going to salt brine instead of rock salt, the town could save between $5,000 and $8,000 in material costs per year. “And that adds up,” he said.

According to Bennett, the brine, which can be spread on the roads 12 hours before a storm hits, works more efficiently than traditional rock salt.

“We go out, we spread it on the roads and the sun evaporates the water out of it and leaves the salt granules,” he said. “So we’re already ahead of the game, because when you go out with regular rock salt, you get the big chunks, and those have to dissolve before they’re actually working. So the material starts working quicker and we’re using less salt.”

“You’re getting the same safety (with the salt brine),” Bennett said. “When we go out with the regular rock salt, it gets blown off the road, so you’re losing a lot of what you put out there, it ends up in the ditch. So, with this method, you’re getting a lot more working on the road. So ultimately you’re getting the same result with a lot less material.”

But that doesn’t mean that Pownal will completely be getting away from traditional rock salt, Bennett said.

“This (salt brine) is just a pre-treatment,” he said, adding that as storms linger on, the town’s crews will be spreading regular rock salt on the roads to keep them safe for driving.

Several towns in the area use the brine method, Bennett said, but Durham, where Bennett is also the road commissioner, is not one of them. Bennett said a local contractor takes care of the roads in Durham and that company is not equipped to use the brine in treating the roads. Freeport Public Works Superintendent Earl Gibson said that Freeport also does not use salt brine in pre-treating its roads, instead using regular rock salt mixed with a substance called “Ice-B-Gone,” that lowers the freezing point of the ice and helps to keep the road clear of ice buildup.

The Pownal Public Works Department is using this truck to pre-treat its roads with salt brine, a rock salt and water mixture that Pownal Road Commissioner Shawn Bennett said does the same work as regular rock salt at a lower cost to the town.