UW staff clear snow with safety, environment in mind

Snow blankets the university campus every year, but this year, crews have been especially pressed to keep up the first major snowstorm of the winter, which dumped nearly a foot of snow on New Year’s weekend. The university’s Environmental Services Department and outside contractors, as well as building custodians, spent much of last week clearing and hauling snow from campus streets, sidewalks and parking lots And they’ve been at it again this week, cleaning up after several subsequent, lighter snowfalls.

As snow continues to blanket the campus, university officials are continuing to improve snow removal efforts to ensure public safety while protecting the environment. The university’s Safety Department, with the help of staff from Environmental Services and Custodial Services, has prepared draft guidelines for wintertime salt use on campus.

“When you’re out there slipping around, it’s easy to think of salt as a way to improve your safety, but you have to think of the environmental consequences, too,” says Peter Reinhardt, director of the Safety Department’s Chemical and Environmental Safety Program.

“There are a lot of good ideas out there — common sense practices — for reducing salt use. We want to put them into the guidelines and share them with the entire campus,” Reinhardt says. “Hopefully that will raise awareness of the problem and encourage people to be a little more careful when spreading salt.”

Reinhardt says the university has already made significant strides in its salt reduction efforts:

• The Physical Plant reformulated its sanding mixture, which now contains only 5 percent salt. And to cut down on salt use, “No Plow, No Salt” areas were designated in 1995.
• A low berm was constructed at the snow storage area on the west end of campus to keep melting snow from going into the marsh and Lake Mendota.
• Seldom-used walkways, steps and other areas have been closed for the winter to cut down on salt use, which in turn has resulted in lower costs and less time spent on snow and ice removal. Those areas include the path to Picnic Point and some stairs at Steenbock Library, Vilas, Chamberlin and Agriculture halls and the Educational Science and Teacher Education buildings.
• This year, several stairways were added to the list, including Lathrop Hall, Wendt and Memorial libraries and Atmospheric Sciences. If you’d like to nominate an area for winter closure, contact Daniel Einstein, Physical Plant environmental management coordinator, (608) 265-3417.

The new guidelines are intended to encourage prudent salt use, minimize salt runoff into Madison lakes and lessen the damage salt can cause to streets, walkways, vehicles, railings, grass and plantings.

The draft guidelines say early and frequent snow removal is the best practice to minimize salt use, because it helps prevent ice formation. Salt doesn’t work very well below zero, and has no effect below minus six degrees Fahrenheit.

Pedestrians are encouraged to call (608) 263-3333 to report unsafe areas that need to be cleared. They are asked to stay on cleared paths and plowed snow routes, and not cut corners or make their own paths.

For a copy of “Best Management Practices For Salt Use On the University of Wisconsin–Madison Campus,” contact Sally Rowe in the Safety Department by e-mail: sally.rowe@mail.admin.wisc.edu. Or, call (608) 262- 0979. The department welcomes comments on the guidelines.