Story posted Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Milder Winter Helping Village Save Salt
At the end of the first week of January, Niles Public Services snowplows had been out in force for about 32 hours with few breaks as the village was hammered with the worst snowfall so far this year.
Though that storm was tough, snowfall this year has been much lighter than in the past two years. The village spread 600 tons of salt over 230 miles of village roads and 63 miles of state roads maintained by the village as between nine and 10 inches of snow blanketed the village in two days on Thursday, Jan.7 and Friday, Jan. 8.
Niles crews have spread 2,900 tons of salt in 20 salting operations so far this season.
One pass through all the village streets takes the snowplow fleet about four hours.
This winter has seen far less snowfall than last year at this time.
By this time last year, Niles had already spread 4,800 tons of salt. The village used 5,500 tons of salt for the entire winter last year.
While some communities are attempting to conserve salt by spreading less salt on some streets, Mayor Robert Callero has said frequently that Niles salts every street curb to curb.
Assistant Village Manager Steve Vinezeano said a pilot program to use beet juice to melt ice and snow in Niles' industrial park has been successful. Last year the village spent $15,000 to outfit a truck with tanks and a sprayer to juice the streets.
Officials in Mt. Prospect spray a similar organic compound on their village streets while salting and have given the program high praise.
Niles started this winter with an order of 5,000 tons of salt through a joint state purchasing agreement.
That agreement allows the village to purchase up to 120% of their order equaling about 7,000 tons if needed.
The village already had 1,000 tons of salt on hand at the start of the season bringing total available stores to 8,000 for the season. The village must take delivery of at least 80% of their order.
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