Deicing salt is a well-known environmental and human health hazard, and the “Low Salt, No Salt” Minnesota outreach program is aiming to tackle this issue in the private sector.
Low Salt, No Salt was started as part of the Hennepin County Chloride Initiative and funded by a Clean Water Fund grant from the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources. Its goal is to provide tools and assistance to private property managers—for organizations such as homeowners’ and townhome associations—in their chloride reduction efforts.
“It’s not just an awareness campaign,” says Jessica Wilson, water resources manager for the City of Edina. “It’s awareness paired with technical support.”
Initial research for the program found that private organizations often face unique barriers when dealing with chloride reduction. One notable example is that private property managers often preemptively oversalt before weather events out of fear of slip-and-fall lawsuits—even though the practice is generally known to be wasteful and ineffective.
“Often the person applying the salt knows that it isn’t better,” Wilson says, “but they’re reacting to their customers’ demand.”
With the goal of changing these patterns, Low Salt, No Salt partnered with MP+G Marketing Solutions to conduct market research, create outreach tools, and provide assistance to property managers in their chloride reduction efforts. Low Salt, No Salt helps organizations write grant proposals for salt reduction projects, and it also hosts an online “toolbox” with materials that private property managers can take and rebrand for their own outreach and educational use: training videos, power point slides, lists of best management practices, etc.
“This is meant for practitioners to grab all of these materials and be able to deliver this program locally,” Wilson says.
The larger goal, Wilson says, is to apply the program to bigger, more impactful private organizations—such as large industrial sites. For now, though, the program is focusing on smaller, easier-to-access organizations to test out their tools and foster salt-conscious attitudes in the private sector.
“It’s just the beginning for this program,” Wilson says, “but we want to get it out there.”
Wilson discussed the program as part of the 2023 Salt Symposium in August. The event was organized by Bolton & Menk.
—Sophie Koch, contributing writer