A beginner's guide to brine, the salt mixture HRM uses before storms

Brine, brine, everywhere the brine
Cleaning icy scenery on HRM's dime
Use it? Don't use it?
Let's discuss the brine

With apologies to the Five Man Electrical Band, you've probably noticed beforestorms that the Halifax Regional Municipality sprays somethingonto the roads differentfromthe usual rock salt orsand.

That's brine, a simple salt-water mixture that the city has been using since 2012.

The city says the 23 per cent solution ismore cost-effective and more effective, period, than regular salt, while being less damaging to roads and, at a minimum, no worse for your car.

HRM spokesperson Erin DiCarloexplained that covering all of HRM's3,800 lane-kilometres of roadwaywith brine before a snowstorm would require about 76 tonnes of salt, compared to 361 tonnesto complete a light application of rock salt.

DiCarlo did not have the exact costs of salt use, but said the brine costs about 68 per cent less than rock salt.

Cheaper, better for the environment and safer, HRM says

Less salt means less cost and less corrosion, both on the roads and on cars. DiCarlo said the mixture is less damaging to the roads and the environment, and "less than or equal to" road salt when it comes to damaging vehicles.

Brine also sticks to the pavement better than dry salt and prevents thebond between snow and pavement, makingplowing easier and eliminating the need to apply salt more than once.

"Brine is more cost-efficient and can be considered safer for drivers," DiCarlosaid.

George Iny, executive director of the Automobile Protection Association, agreed that the brine is better for the roads, but said he wasn't certain it was better for cars.

The municipalitysaid the benefit comes from there being less salt altogether, but Iny worried the brine sticks to the car, particularly when another substance is used to help the brine stick (this is not the case in HRM).

"I'm told it doesn't wash off the same way," he said.

Regardless of brine's side-effects, it's not always the right way to battle stormy weather.

"Conditions must be correct in order to apply this liquid chemical to a roadway and be effective," DiCarlo said.

If the storm is forecast to begin with rain, the city may avoid using brine, she said. Also, the temperature can't be too low and the humidity can't be too high.

Each snowfall approached differently

Brine also only works before a storm, and can be applied up to two days prior.During a storm, it makes more sense for rock salt and the falling snow to form its own brine.

"No one strategy covers all the scenarios in any given storm," DiCarlosaid. "Depending on the frost depth, weather forecast, current conditions, temperature trends and time of year, each snow event is approached a little differently."

Brine is now a major anti-icing agent across North America, and some places are trying even more creative solutions, including cheese brine in Wisconsinanda beet juice brine mix in Calgary that uses even less salt, though it does have an unpleasant brown colour.

Edmonton uses calcium chloride instead of sodium chloride, but its usehas proved controversial, with a possible increase indamage to infrastructure and cars.

DiCarlo said the municipalityhas no plans to try something different, but it's "always exploring new technologies that may be effective in our climate."

How to protect your car

Halifax-area automotive expert Doug Bethunesaid the way the city uses brine makes sense, and noted that it lessens the impact on dug wells in rural areas, too.

"When they put the brine on, they do one side at a time, and the brine application doesn't really wet the road enough so that it runs off," he said.

(The city's website notes that brine can give the impression more salt was used because of the way it crystalizes on the surface when it evaporates, "when, in fact, much less has been applied by using brine rather than road salt.")

As for cars, Bethunesaid auto manufacturers call Nova Scotia "the rust capital of Canada," with its salt air, abrasiveroads and temperature swings that make metal sweat.

Bethunesaid Toyota sent a vehicle to the province in the 1980s just to see which parts would rust, so they could protect those areas with more undercoating or plastic shields.

To protect your car, an annual rust-proofing will help, but only if you do it every year, he said.