LOVELAND, Ohio — The city of Loveland has received a $75,000 grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to buy new equipment for making and applying road brine ahead of winter storms, the city said in a Facebook post.
The money comes through Ohio EPA’s H2Ohio Rivers Chloride Reduction Grant Program, which funds upgrades to road-salt application equipment and storage facilities for municipalities, townships and counties identified as being near high-quality streams or vulnerable groundwater, according to the agency.
Brine — a saltwater solution sprayed on roads before snow or ice arrives — keeps ice from bonding to pavement, allowing crews to clear roads using less rock salt than traditional after-the-fact treatments require, the city said in its post. Because it takes less salt overall, brine application also cuts down on the chloride that washes into nearby waterways when snow melts, reducing runoff pollution in local streams.
“This investment helps keep our roads safer, protects the environment, and makes the most of taxpayer dollars,” the city said in its post.
The chloride reduction grants are part of Ohio’s broader H2Ohio initiative, a state program aimed at improving water quality through projects addressing agricultural runoff, wetland restoration and other water-quality efforts. Ohio EPA has awarded two previous rounds of chloride reduction funding, totaling $4.3 million across more than 80 communities statewide, according to the agency.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the City of Loveland.