Salt has long been a mainstay in the battle to clear and de-ice winter roads across Canada.
Trouble is, too much salt damages the environment, so there’s been no shortage of attempts in recent years to find a better way.
Now, after three years of tinkering and experimenting, the infrastructure superintendent of the Quebec Eastern Townships town of Cowansville, Sylvain Perreault, is moving full speed ahead with his approach to de-ice the roads he’s in charge of keeping clear.
The key ingredient: sugar beet juice.
Adding beet juice keeps salt on the roads, reducing run-off, and as an added benefit, when sprayed before a storm, a thin layer of beet juice will keep ice from bonding with the road surface.
The Montreal suburb of Laval launched a pilot project using beet juice last year and Toronto, Halifax and St. John, N.B. are using similar approaches.
Finding the proper proportions hasn’t been easy, but Perreault is confident Cowansville, like some other cities and towns, is moving forward in the right direction.
I spoke with him by phone on Monday.
Listen .
For reasons beyond our control, and for an undetermined period of time, our comment section is now closed. However, our social networks remain open to your contributions.