Senate Judiciary discusses S.29 to curb road salt runoff; agency urges BMP rulemaking and certification

The Vermont Senate Judiciary Committee on April 17 continued consideration of S.29, a bill that would promote best management practices for winter salt application and provide limited liability protections for qualified applicators.

Bethany Sargent, deputy director of the Watershed Management Division at the Agency of Natural Resources, told the committee that rising chloride concentrations are documented statewide and have reached levels that can harm aquatic life. "We have 8 surface waters that are impaired as a result of excess chloride," Sargent said, and her office's GIS analysis estimates that "state roads make up roughly 19% of the impervious surfaces that we would salt... municipal roads would make up about 26%... and other impervious surfaces... make up about 55%."

The EPA-designated Sunnyside Brook and work done for Colchester were cited as examples: Sargent said commercial paved surfaces account for more than 70% of pavements in some impaired watersheds, and that…