As Mother Nature contemplates sending more snow our way, one thing the municipality isn’t short on is road salt.
Dennis Chepeka, manager of public works north in Chatham-Kent said the municipality has a contract with the Windsor salt mine, so they receive their road salt direct from the supplier.
“There’s a shortage of sorts, but it’s more or less for the public. It might affect private contractors, however,” Chepeka said. “We’re under contract directly from the mine.”
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He said it’s been a busy year for salt use, given all the snow we’ve received to date. But he won’t know just how much crews have gone through until sometime next month.
“I have no idea how much salt we’ve used, and won’t know until March when the bills come in,” Chepeka said.
Margaret Pinsonneault of Al’s Lawn Care said they received word from a supplier that there could be a shortage, so the Chatham company stocked up a couple of weeks ago.
“We went out and bought a whole lot,” she said.
Pinsonneault said most of their customers are homeowners, and unless requested, the plow drivers’ don’t put salt down on driveways.
But in the case of parking lots, such as the Via Rail lot, that’s a different story, she said.
As for consumers, Bill Riddell, manager of RONA in Chatham, said his store has some road salt, but it’s hard to keep the bigger bags in stock.
“It’s been really difficult to get in. We have no 40-kilogram bags of salt anymore. We’ve got 20s and 10s and jugs, but that’s it,” he said.
Riddell said there’s been a shortage since the ice storm hit the Greater Toronto Area last month.
“What happened in Toronto put the salt mines in overtime and they just can’t keep up,” he said.
When RONA has sporadically received deliveries of the 40-kg bags, they sell out quickly and the shelves remain empty for weeks on end, he added.
Riddell said salt stops being effective when the temperature dips below -20C, but that the warmer temperatures of late have made it much more effective in melting away ice and snow.
