Connection: Spokane Lays Off The Salt

Spokane switched from sand and salt to a liquid de-icer in the mid-1990s because of concerns about the environment, City Operations Manager Roger Flint said.

Like the state and Spokane County, the city uses magnesium chloride on ice and snow when the temperatures are in the teens or the 20s, Flint said.

“It’s much more environmentally friendly and not as hard on vehicles,” he said.

“It is more expensive.”

When temperatures dip into the single digits, the liquid de-icer isn’t very effective. Then the city uses sand.

It is using sand now, because its supplier is temporarily out of magnesium chloride. With all the snow in December, the demand for de-icer is higher than in recent years.

Sand can create air pollution problems if it stays on streets after they dry out, Flint said. To keep it from being kicked up by passing cars, the city sends out the sweeping trucks.