Plowing Forward: NHDES Partners with Municipalities in New Municipal Green SnowPro Certification Program
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services adopted administrative rules for the Voluntary Municipal Winter Maintenance Certification program (Municipal Green SnowPro) this past May. Winter deicing and anti-icing practices with chlorides is a statewide issue. This partnership with municipalities will aid in implementing winter salt reduction practices throughout the state. Municipal Green SnowPro certification recognizes New Hampshire municipalities for their efforts to reduce winter salt use while maintaining the safety of the traveling public and protecting surface and groundwater resources, infrastructure, biological integrity and ecology, all while promoting fiscal efficiencies. The program offers three tiers of certification available for municipalities: standard, advanced and expert. All three levels of certification focus on salt accounting, additional record keeping, calibration, and proper storage of winter deicing and anti-icing materials. In addition to the requirements for standard certification, advanced and expert certifications require the implementation and documentation of additional salt reduction practices. Municipalities select from an approved list of winter snow and ice management best practices, which provides flexibility in the selection and implementation of salt reduction measures that best fit their needs and budgets.
In September, municipal snow and ice management attendees gathered at Cisco Brewers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the 11th annual New Hampshire Salt Symposium, where they had the opportunity to learn in-depth about the requirements for Voluntary Municipal Green SnowPro certification. Other educational sessions included a climatology update on trends and forecasts that will impact statewide snow and ice management operations, new technology and equipment innovations to promote salt reduction while maintaining public safety, and discussions that focused on strategies in winter management operations, staffing and planning.
The number of surface waters and wells impaired by chloride contamination continues to rise as winter weather in New Hampshire trends toward more freezing rain and icing events and fewer sustained snowfall events that require only the mechanical removal of snow (plowing). This increase in freezing rain and ice events requires a heavier reliance on anti-icing and deicing strategies that involve large quantities of chlorides to maintain safe roadways, parking lots and walkways.
Municipalities are the second largest contributor to winter salt application, behind the commercial sector, making the adoption of the Voluntary Municipal Green SnowPro administrative rules a milestone partnership to implement statewide winter salt reduction practices to protect surface waters and groundwater from increased chloride concentrations. Learn more about the Voluntary Municipal Green SnowPro certification program on the program's webpage.
Caption: Salt-equipment calibration demonstration with municipal attendees at the Salt Symposium.