GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – The head of Green Bay Public Works says there’s a certain negative connotation surrounding brine, which is rooted in misinformation.
Brine is simply salt dissolved in water.
For Steve Grenier, Director of Green Bay Public Works, it’s amazing how such a basic concept has transformed into a hot-button topic for motorists.
He can attest that there is a portion of the population that is not happy.
“I’ve received a lot of calls over the last couple of years saying, ‘Steve, ever since you guys started [using brine] I’m seeing more deterioration on my car,” explains Grenier.
He just doesn’t think that is true.
“I don’t think that there is any correlation there,” he says.
He says once the rock salt is put down and it mixes with snow the end result, a wet paved road, is essentially brine which has just been produced indirectly from cars driving over the salt and snow.
“You were generating brine all along you just didn’t call it that, it’s really no different,” he explains.
Grenier says that form of brine has always been around and the pressure created by vehicles produces a tiny amount of moisture or rather, an “old-school” version of brine.
Salt needs moisture for a chemical process to take place, which creates its ability to melt snow. By adding brine to salt that process is made both more effective and efficient.
One way it improves efficiency is by helping to ensure that the salt doesn’t bounce and scatter everywhere once it’s dropped.
“So we’ve actually become about thirty to thirty-two percent more efficient with our salt placement,” he explains.
Grenier describes the manner in which vehicles utilize both salt and brine together.
“At the spinner head there are little sprayers and the brine is being sprayed on to the salt as it is being dropped off of the spinner head,” he says.
Brine by itself would not be effective once the snow has already started to fall, but rather it is used days beforehand as a preemptive measure.
“The intent when we go out with brine ahead of a storm is to stop a bond between the precipitation and the cold pavement from forming in the first place,” he explains.
