# Northern VA: Seeking Winter Maintenance Professionals to Provide Input on a Salt Management Strategy



## Will Isenberg (Oct 25, 2017)

Hello everyone,

My name is Will Isenberg and I work for the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality. We're interested in working with snow plow operators and other professionals who work in snow and ice management in the Northern Virginia region. In that region, Virginia completed our first polluted water clean-up plan for chloride that is related to winter weather management. This Clean Water Act required plan was deliberately prepared in such a way that there would be a heavy focus on best practices and not limits or restrictions on the total amount of salts that can be applied in a season. Seeing as public safety and the work that winter weather managers do is incredibly important, we decided to pursue this approach in order to balance the health of the streams and the need for public safety in winter weather. While it is our intent to develop a strategy that among other things provides information on best practices, best equipment, and additional recommendations for efficient and effective salt application, we are in no way experts and thus are seeking professionals in the region to participate in this Salt Management Strategy development.

If you are interested in participating or would like more information, you can reply to me on here, email me at [email protected], or call me at 804-698-4228. To be clear, unfortunately this is not a paid deal. This is simply an effort to bring experts to the table in order to capture your perspectives and influence the path forward in the most inclusive and positive manner.

Thanks,

-Will


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## Herm Witte (Jan 27, 2009)

Will check this out for starters;
http://miwintermaintenance.weebly.com/uploads/1/7/1/6/17161926/mi_winter_maintenance_manual_2013.pdf


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## Will Isenberg (Oct 25, 2017)

Thanks, Herm! That is a great resource. On top of what we already have, it is not only something new, but seems fairly thorough! I'm looking forward to going through it. Take care!


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## Mark Oomkes (Dec 10, 2000)

I wish you the best of luck because despite the fact that salt is a huge profit center for me, I would much rather use less. 

The biggest hurdle will be educating the public on the fact that it is winter, snow is natural, they need to prepare for it and dress\drive accordingly. 

Actually, that's probably the second biggest hurdle. The first is tort reform so when someone slips and falls in the winter, it is their own fault and it happens because it is winter, snow is slippery and they haven't dressed or changed driving habits to accommodate it so they think they need to sue anyone and everyone.


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## Will Isenberg (Oct 25, 2017)

Hey Mark, I 100% agree with all of your remarks. And in particular, the idea of slip and fall liability is something we really hope to tackle as successfully as New Hampshire. They have this "Green SnowPro" certification program for folks who would like to limit their application to what is necessary given the conditions, but who would also (obviously) like some slip and fall liability protections. The general idea is if you go through the certification and practice in accordance with the training, you are free from slip and fall liability. The snag, however, is that this delves into legislation. While New Hampshire has been successful with this, I actually think Minnesota has been trying for years to get it into legislation with no success. Nonetheless, it seems like one of the most common sense approaches to meeting everyone in the middle. If you want some more information on the topic, check it out here: https://www.des.nh.gov/organization...ve/documents/green-snowpro-business-flyer.pdf


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## Defcon 5 (Mar 20, 2014)

I could not agree more with Mark...Tort reform needs to be addressed...Which the ASCA is attempting to do....


I have a lot of time on my hands of late...Every other commercial on TV is a commercial for a personal injury law Firm...They all start out by saying...Have you been in a car accident or Slip and Fall...


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## Freshwater (Feb 28, 2014)

Will were all on board with this. We'd all love to see changes, but we can only do so much from our end. The worst case scenario for us is things get legislated so heavely things become unprofitable for us. And that's exactly where things are going to go without changes.


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## Herm Witte (Jan 27, 2009)

Will Isenberg said:


> Thanks, Herm! That is a great resource. On top of what we already have, it is not only something new, but seems fairly thorough! I'm looking forward to going through it. Take care!


Thanks.


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## Will Isenberg (Oct 25, 2017)

Freshwater - I completely understand that concern. That's a big reason we're reaching out through this site and spending most of our outreach trying to get to the actual applicators/professionals. The studies I have seen have all shown opportunities for cost savings and environmental benefit, which is a rare phenomenon. Still though, as you point out, there's a chance things can go in a direction that overly burdens you all or some other stakeholder group. 

If you all have any other recommended avenues to bring folks in your profession to the table, please feel free to share! Also, if you know anyone from Northern Virginia in this profession, please send them my way. The last thing we want coming out of this is for things to become unprofitable for you all!


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