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11-26-2008, 03:31 PM
DOT to salt roads with hint of cheese, molasses
By Robert Santos
CHEHALIS, Wash. -- The past weekend brought the season's first freeze, and Department of Transportation crews got a chance to try out a new anti-icing recipe that's touted as being more natural and less harmful to the environment.
The mix is made at the DOT's Chehalis maintenance facility. Most of the mix is salt, the main snow and ice-fighting ingredient.
But this year, crews also added another natural product from local cows -- cheesy whey, the salty water left behind after cheese is produced.
The whey, which comes from the Darigold Factory in Sunnyside, helps the DOT save as much as $40,000 on the cost of making its own salt water.
The whey is delivered to the DOT's Chehalis facility where it's stored in these huge tanks. Darigold can deliver up to 11,000 gallons a day.
"Instead of delivering back into sewers, we're able to work out a nice deal with the Department of Transportation," said Steve Rowe of Darigold. "When the pass is closed, our dairy farmers get stranded and the milk gets stranded, so it's a wonderful relationship."
The DOT also found that by adding molasses, the anti-icing mix sticks to the road up to four days longer. And the resulting color and smell are unmistakable.
"Our product is 77 percent less corrosive than salt," said Paul Simonsen of WSDOT.
And that means there will be less salt deposited into soil and groundwater
The DOT tested out the new anti-icing product last year on Highway 12 at White Pass. This year, the department is expanding its use to other state routes in Southwestern Washington.
Neat, finding a new use for the dairy's waste product means less sewage being dumped back into the rivers or bays of Washington and less waste of clean water if the city had to make their own. And because it is less salty there's less road corrosion and environmental impact to plant life near the roads. Not to mention the molasses making it so they need to use less of it.
I'm just not so sure I want the roads smelling like cottage cheese and molasses for several days.
By Robert Santos
CHEHALIS, Wash. -- The past weekend brought the season's first freeze, and Department of Transportation crews got a chance to try out a new anti-icing recipe that's touted as being more natural and less harmful to the environment.
The mix is made at the DOT's Chehalis maintenance facility. Most of the mix is salt, the main snow and ice-fighting ingredient.
But this year, crews also added another natural product from local cows -- cheesy whey, the salty water left behind after cheese is produced.
The whey, which comes from the Darigold Factory in Sunnyside, helps the DOT save as much as $40,000 on the cost of making its own salt water.
The whey is delivered to the DOT's Chehalis facility where it's stored in these huge tanks. Darigold can deliver up to 11,000 gallons a day.
"Instead of delivering back into sewers, we're able to work out a nice deal with the Department of Transportation," said Steve Rowe of Darigold. "When the pass is closed, our dairy farmers get stranded and the milk gets stranded, so it's a wonderful relationship."
The DOT also found that by adding molasses, the anti-icing mix sticks to the road up to four days longer. And the resulting color and smell are unmistakable.
"Our product is 77 percent less corrosive than salt," said Paul Simonsen of WSDOT.
And that means there will be less salt deposited into soil and groundwater
The DOT tested out the new anti-icing product last year on Highway 12 at White Pass. This year, the department is expanding its use to other state routes in Southwestern Washington.
Neat, finding a new use for the dairy's waste product means less sewage being dumped back into the rivers or bays of Washington and less waste of clean water if the city had to make their own. And because it is less salty there's less road corrosion and environmental impact to plant life near the roads. Not to mention the molasses making it so they need to use less of it.
I'm just not so sure I want the roads smelling like cottage cheese and molasses for several days.