Lorain receives $55,000 state grant for brine tanks

LORAIN — Residents on Lorain's side streets will likely see less snow on their roads when winter comes this year, thanks to a grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Lorain was awarded $55,000 to purchase two 1,200-gallon brine solution spreaders for its trucks as part of an H2Ohio program to reduce chloride levels in local rivers. While the city has been able to make the saltwater brine, a mixture of salt and water, from the regular road salt it buys, the city had only two brine tanks for its trucks that were able to hold about 100 gallons each. The size of the tanks confined their use to main roads, as they would often have to be taken back to the West Park Drive service complex to refill the tank to continue brining roads ahead of storms. The new, larger tanks will allow city workers to brine not only major thoroughfares, but side streets as well. Staff from the Ohio EPA, alongside city workers, announced the award for the new brine spreaders at a news conference Thursday morning at the city's Public Properties facility. Lorain's award is part of $1.7 million in H2Ohio funding for 30 municipalities and counties as part of the state's Chloride Reduction Grant program. The program looks to reduce the amount of salt runoff into local streams, rivers and lakes. Standing against a backdrop of a pile of road salt, Mayor Jack Bradley said the funding will make the city's streets safer in the winter and help the environment. "It's a $55,000 grant, that may not sound like much but what it's going to do for our environment, what it's going to do for our economy and what it's going to do for our citizens and making our roads safer, you can't put a price on that," Bradley said. Lorain stormwater manager Kate Golden said salt management is not a glamorous topic, but is critical to the region. The city has worked with the Ohio EPA and Ohio Department of Natural Resources in the past to protect the city's waterways, she said, including the Black River Area of Concern and reduction of algae blooms along the lake. The new H2Ohio program looks to curb contaminants that impact everyone, she said. She said the city's Public Properties Department — under manager Lori Garcia — started using brine solution about a decade ago. Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water Chief Mark Johnson said Thursday's announcement was a pivotal one. "We have been observing increased chloride in our rivers throughout the state," Johnson said. "Most of that has been attributed to road salt applications in wintertime … all of our bugs, our fish, our insects, everything that makes the quality of the water, they're affected by the increased chlorides in the rivers — they can't survive in there." The program itself is a preventive one, Johnson said. While chloride levels are not so far gone as to have drastically affected aquatic ecosystems in the state, Johnson said, the more sensitive fish, bugs and other life forms are starting to show the effects of increased chloride levels. He said data would be available next year to show the concentration of chloride in local waterways. Chloride levels also affect water treatment facilities, he said, as the saltier water is more corrosive to the equipment. The brine can also be used on newly paved roadways, Garcia said. Regular road salt cannot. Moving to the brine solution will reduce the amount of salt the city purchases in the future, she said, as the salt solution is so diluted. "Now we're going to be able to do the whole city, even the city parking lots, all side streets," Garcia said. "I really think the people on the side streets are going to notice the difference because all we do is plow on their streets. We'll be able to do side streets without having to purchase more salt." Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.