Winter Maintenance Assessment Tool: An Innovative Way to Manage Salt Use. Overview

Transcription

1 Winter Maintenance Assessment Tool: An Innovative Way to Manage Salt Use Brooke Asleson, MPCA Matthew Morreim, City of St. Paul 2016 North American Snow Conference Hartford, Connecticut May 22, 2016 Overview Introduction Chloride & Water Quality MPCA s Chloride Management Plan Winter Maintenance Assessment Tool (WMAt) 1

2 Introduction Twin Cities Metro Area Stats Population: 3,459,146 Typical Winter Stats: Average Snowfall: 50 Average Temp: 20⁰F (Dec.) & 15⁰F (Jan.) Size: Approx. 3,000 mi 2 Land Use: 1/3 Urbanized Surface Waters: Roughly 3,000 lakes, wetlands and stream reaches in TCMA 75% of people rely on groundwater for drinking water in MN 2

3 Chloride & Water Quality What s the dilemma? Safe roads, parking lots &sidewalks are essential high expectations from the public Chloride is a permanent pollutant o Cannot be treated or filtered with traditional BMPs 78% of the chloride applied in the TCMA is retained here (Stefan et al. 2008) Chloride concentrations in streams in the Northern US have approximately doubled from (Corsi et al. 2015) 1 tsp. of de icing salt pollutes 5 gallons of water 3

4 What s the problem with salt? Chloride is toxic to aquatic life (EPA) o o 230 mg/l long term 860 mg/l short term Contaminates groundwater Chloride can disrupt the natural mixing process in lakes Impacts vegetation and wildlife Corrodes road surfaces/bridges Potential human consumption concerns Sources of Chloride 4

5 Chloride in TCMA Surface Waters Doug Wallick 19 lakes, 16 streams and 4 wetlands impaired for chloride (total 39 with TMDLs completed) Roughly 40 High Risk waters o Values 207 mg/l or at least one exceedance Increase in chloride in Mississippi, Minnesota and St. Croix Rivers (Metropolitan Council 2014) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/interstate_park Chloride in MN Groundwater Shallow groundwater in the TCMA is impacted by high chloride concentrations 30% of shallow monitoring wells in the TCMA above standard About one third of wells across the state showed increased concentrations over time Impact on baseflow concentrations in surface waters Land Use Chloride (mg/l) Residential 45 Commercial/ Industrial 60 Undeveloped 15 5

6 TCMA Chloride Management Plan Goal of the CMP 6

7 Inter-Agency Advisory Team MPCA, MnDOT, Met Council, BWSR, DNR, USGS, U of M Monitoring Sub-Group MPCA, DNR, Met Council, USGS, local partners Implementation Plan Committee Winter Maintenance Professionals, Cities, Counties, MnDOT MPCA project team Technical Advisory Committee WMOs, WDs, Cities, Counties, MnDOT Technical Expert Group Hands-on road salt applicators and suppliers Outreach Group WMOs, WDs, MS4s, road salt applicators, Citizens Education & Outreach Committee MPCA & local education specialists Outline of CMP 1. Background and Description 2. TCMA Chloride Conditions Water quality conditions, sources, trends and TMDL summary, protection 3. Prioritizing and Implementing Restoration & Protection Prioritization and Critical Areas Implementation strategies, Education resources, Citizens attitudes Success stories, Cost, and Funding Opportunities 4. Monitoring and Tracking Recommendations for monitoring, Tracking implementation efforts 5. Research Needs 6. Stakeholder Process 7

8 Chloride Trends Lakes = chloride is highest in Jan. May Streams = chloride is highest Dec. April Streams influenced by wastewater treatment plant discharges = chloride is highest during low flow conditions Relationship between road density and chloride concentrations 8

9 TCMA CMP Performance Based Implementation Audience years 1 2 years 3 5 years 6 10 Beyond year 10 Winter Maintenance Review responsibilities Follow plan Re assess Re assess Leadership (state, county, city, Develop policies Share successes operations operations schools, private): those not Assess the situation Revise goals Revise goals involved in day to day Create goals Continue to Continue to operations of maintenance Set priorities implement implement crew. Implement changes changes changes Use WMAt Share successes Share successes. Winter Maintenance Professionals (state, county, city, schools, private): plow drivers, mechanics, supervisors of crew. Attend training Keep an open mind towards change Look for ways to make salt use more efficient Use WMAt tool Create list with your desired changes Prioritize your action plan Implement changes Use less salt Municipalities Create a plan Start implementing the plan Track progress Use the WMAt Prioritize actions Continue monitoring Citizens Follow recommendations Use less salt Encourage others to use less salt Follow plan Eliminate poor practices Share successes Use less salt Follow plan Continue to improve practices MS4s report progress to MPCA Reduce salt use Encourage others to reduce salt use Re assess operations Adjust goals Follow plan Eliminate all poor practices Share successes Use less salt Review and revise plan Continue to improve practices MS4s report progress to MPCA Reduce salt use Encourage others to reduce salt use. Re assess operations Revise goals Continue to implement changes Share successes Use less salt Follow plan Continue to improve practices MS4s report progress to MPCA Continue to reduce salt use. Policy Makers (city, county, state, other) Understand why we use salt Understand what the options are for lower salt use Improve policy Improve policy Improve policy Chloride Reduction Strategies: Winter Maintenance Practices Shift from granular to liquids Improved physical snow removal Snow and ice pavement bond prevention Training for maintenance professionals Education for the public and elected officials Winter Maintenance Assessment tool 9

10 Chloride Reduction Strategies: Non Traditional Winter Maintenance Practices Adopt a lower level of service Alternative pavement types/infrastructure changes Driver Behavior Changes Non chloride deicers perviouspavement.org Entity Time Period University of Minnesota, Twin Start 2006 Cities City of Waconia Start 2010 City of Prior Lake City of Richfield Start 2010 Rice Creek Watershed District Cities City of Cottage Grove Main Actions Implemented Success Stories Began making salt brine and anti icing and adopted several other salt reduction BMPs. Switch from 1:1 sand:salt to straight salt & liquid anti icing; calibration; equipment changes; use of air and pavement temperatures. Upgrade to precision controllers & sanders; anti icing & pre wetting; use of ground temperatures, best available weather data; on site premix liquid & bulk ingredient storage, mixing & transfer equipment; staff education. All staff Training*; yearly sander calibration; use of low pavementtemp de icers; road crown only application; minor arterial road policy adjustments. Salt Reduction 48% Cost Savings New equipment cost $10,000 $55,000 cost savings first year 70% $8,600 yearly cost savings ($1.80 per lane mile) 42% $2,000 per event estimated cost savings; mg/l decrease in receiving water chloride (liquid app only watershed) > 50% $30,000: $70,000: Staff training; purchased shared anti icing equipment 32% $26,400 in one winter Staff training Not available $40,000 in one winter City of Shoreview Start 2006 Stopped using a salt/sand mixture and moved on with straight salt; set up all its large plow trucks with state of the art salt spreading controls, pre wetting tanks and controls and pavement sensors; use of calcium chloride in the pre wetting tanks reduced the amount of rock salt as well; all applicators and supervisors annually attend *Training; crews attend an annual snowplow meeting to review procedures and talk about salt use and conservation methods; trucks set up for anti icing main roads with calcium chloride. 44% since 2006 $24,468 in 2014 City of Eagan Start 2005 Joe s Lawn & Snow Start Moved from a 50/50 salt/sand mix to straight salt; eliminated purchase of safety grit; EPOKE winter chemical application technology; use AVL; pre wet at spinner Owner & staff Training*; purchase of new spreader, temperature sensors; equipment calibration; use of temperature data; on going experimentation. Unknown $70,000 annual savings 50% $770 estimated cost savings in 2014 Expected to use 20 tons, only use 9 tons 10

11 Winter Maintenance Assessment tool (WMAt) Partnership Technical Expert Team 2011 State: MnDOT County: Scott, Dakota, Hennepin City: Minneapolis, St. Paul, Waconia Other Gov t: Three Rivers Park District Private: EnviroTech, Prescription Landscape, Force America, Fortin Consulting Team Goal: Develop an easy to use, flexible and comprehensive tool to help agencies and companies reduce salt usage in the 7 county metro 11

12 WMAt Goals 1. Document current practices 2. Chart a path towards salt reduction 3. Allow a flexible approach for implementing BMPs 4. Develop a strategy unique to operation 5. Evaluate small areas of winter maintenance 6. Shows user recommended practices (learning tool) GOOGLE: MPCA WMAT 12

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18 Present for Funding Opportunities Organization Progress and Future Plans Improvements Our organization has made many changes over the last 5 years, These changes include beginning to calibrate our granular and liquid systems. We have added more pre wet tanks to trucks as well as begun anti icing before frosts. These positive changes can be seen on the first two chart to the left which illustrates the Advanced practices in green, the Best practices in yellow and Poor practices in red. As you can see our organization has made great strides toward becoming a leader in the industry in using best management practices. Vision for the Future We are looking to continue to move forward with industry leading practices or Advanced practices on the above chart. Over the next 5 years we are looking to continue to increase our pre wetting and anti icing capabilities. Our plan for doing this is to add tanks to 15 additional trucks so that all of our trucks will be equipped for liquid. This will allow us to use pre wetting on the truck as our primary means of deicing as well as allow for flexibility in our anti icing routes. We would also like to purchase a shed for salt storage. Funding Needed To accomplish the vision we are looking to add 15 tanks. Each tank costs $10,000. The shed has been estimated to cost $150,000 for the cleaning of the area, materials and building of the structure. It will take 2 weeks to complete the project since the site has already been assessed. Return on Investment We are looking to continue to move forward with industry leading practices or Advanced practices on the above chart. Over the next 5 years we are looking to continue to increase our pre wetting and anti icing capabilities. Our plan for doing this is to add tanks to 15 additional trucks so that all of our trucks will be equipped for liquid. This will allow us to use pre wetting on the truck as our primary means of deicing as well as allow for flexibility in our anti icing routes. If the shed is purchased it is predicted that there will be a savings of 728 tons and $50,970. If the shed is budgeted for $150,000 it can be payed off in 3 years time. Over the last 5 years we have made significant progress toward using Advanced and Best Management Practices over Poor practices. Show off your good work! Press release to the news paper or TV Tweet it or other social media Post it on your website 18

19 Operator Training Supervisor Training Teach and reinforce all aspects of the operations Verify if supervisors are being consistent Identify where more emphasis on practices that are not uniformly implemented Billy Barb 19

20 Track progress of implementation Each year run the tool to compare with the year or years before 5 year plan Year 1 and 2 we will do change of practices that do not involve purchases Year 3 $20,000 towards purchases of tarps for trucks Year 4 $250,000 for a new storage shed Year 5 $200,000 toward anti icing equipment 20

21 Utilizing WMAt Reports Planning Tool Evaluate current practices Identify areas for improvement Develop interim and long term BMP goals Educational opportunity for operators Tracking Tool Track implementation (BMP) progress over time Track progress in achieving reductions Assist with MS4 permit TMDL reporting requirements Increase knowledge of reductions achieved through S2 How Can I Access the WMAt The MPCA is currently funding & hosting the tool Available NOW for use (Google search WMAt stormwater) Visit the MPCA s Minnesota Stormwater Manual new Smart Salting section: _smart_salting_and_winter_maintenance Link can also be found at MPCA s Road Salt & Water Quality website 21

22 MPCA Smart Salting Trainings MPCA Smart Salting Level I Training MPCA, Fortin Consulting, Minnesota Local Technical Assistance Program (U of M) MnDOT, many local watershed partners Voluntary training program established in 2005 Certification given to participants must pass test Teach Best Practices to reduce chloride impacts Targeted to private applicators & local government 22

23 MPCA Smart Salting Level I Training MPCA Smart Salting Level 2 Training Explore the tool with guided instruction Demonstrate how the tool can assist with planning and prioritizing BMPs Demonstrate how the tool can help show progress Audience: Winter Maintenance Supervisors and Leadership Discuss how the tool can be used to gain support to implement BMPs First pilot Nov hosted by Minnesota Street Superintendents Association 23

24 CLEAN WATER & SAFE ROADS Implement Action Plans WMAt & Smart Salting (S2) Trainings Developed & Documented Strategies (CMP) Set Goals (TMDL & Protection) Understand WQ & public needs Brooke Asleson Watershed Specialist MN Pollution Control Agency Follow me on Matthew Morreim Assistant Street Mtce. Engineer City of St. Paul Public Works Visit the Road Salt & Water Quality website: 24