Cities rely on salt, sand as supplies of de-icer dip
Parade of storms pushes up demand
Laressa Bachelor, Rocky Mountain News
Published February 2, 2007 at midnight
Some cities were running out of de-icing material and resorting to salt and sand as the seventh winter storm arrived with a one-two punch of snow and below-zero temperatures.
One of the main suppliers of the de-icing material IceSlicer, EnviroTech Services Inc., is struggling to keep up with the demand from cities across Colorado.
Terry Crowther of Utah's Redmond Minerals, the producer of the chemical distributed by Enviro-Tech, said they have been unable to catch up.
"The storms really hit us hard," Crowther said Thursday. "Our entire production is working 2 4/7 for the past six weeks. We are taking care of Colorado as fast as we can."
Broomfield, which ran out of IceSlicer three weeks ago, has resorted to a salt-and-sand mix, Public Works Director Dorian Brown said.
"It's not as effective, but is as good a material as we can get for now," Brown said.
Brown is expecting a shipment of the chemical next week, but said he might not get enough to keep ahead of the next storm.
Denver planned ahead and ordered extra de-icing materials, including IceSlicer, earlier in the winter, public-works spokeswoman Christine Downs said.
Many cities prefer de-icing materials because they are more effective at low temperatures and crews don't have to go back and remove the powder debris left by salt and sand.
The city of Englewood used IceSlicer, but when the supply ran out, crews went back to using salt and sand.
"Compared to magnesium chloride, for example, salt and sand is better," said Rick Kahm, director of public works for Englewood.
Westminster also has been hit by dwindling shipments of white de-icing salt.
The city has been rationing its supply since the pre-Christmas blizzard, Street Operations Manager Ray Porter said.
Sand had been mixed with the salt to deal with the past six storms.
"It does not work quite as well as just straight salt, but we had no choice - we wanted to at least give people some traction," Porter said.
bachelorl@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5606
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