Madison.com + WKOW = 0
A link on Madison.com today pointed readers to what could have been an interesting story about a salt shortage during a record-setting snowfall period:
Curious, I followed the link. Once there, I found it was a short story accompanied by a video. I read the story first, expecting to find out more about the salt shortage. Finding only a short blurb about the city being short on salt, I clicked the link to the video story by Sean Towle.
Don’t bother watching the video yourself. Sean simply stands on a snowy corner and tells you three things: 1) it’s snowing 2) roads are slippery 3) plows are plowing.
What about the salt shortage you ask? That’s the same question I still have.
It’d be great if somewhere they answered things like:
- How short on salt are they?
- Why are they short on salt?
- What is being done to get more salt?
- What is being done in the meantime due to the shortage?
Perhaps my expectations are too high.
Here’s the email from City staff explaining the salt shortage from the City staff perspective.
From: Schumacher, Al
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 3:07 PM
To: Piraino, Janet
Subject: Salt Use News Stories
Alders and Mayoral Staff,
I just wanted to make you aware of a story airing on the local news stations this evening.
Due to the weather in the Midwest, salt supplies in the entire area are in short supply. Salt is mined based on what each governmental agency states it needs and expects to use. They only mine what is ordered. We, in the City are okay. We normally use about 9,000 -10,000 tons of salt for a winter season. We have already used 5800 tons in the month of December. We do have another 10,500 tons committed to us. As a result, I am not worried about running out of salt because we still have access to the full amount of salt we use in a normal winter. We are also checking other salt suppliers for additional salt just in case the rest of the winter continues like the first third.
However, in an effort to make sure our supplies don’t run out, we have recently made even more of an effort with crews to limit the amount of salt we spread to ensure none is wasted. We are keeping to our policy of 300 lbs. per lane mile and we stop salting when salt isn’t effective, such as when temperatures are below 15 degrees and when snow is falling at rapid accumulations. This policy is nothing new, but we are underscoring it in our operational meetings with staff and crews. Our policy is not to have bare streets while snow is still falling but to keep the main arterials plowed during the storm and get them bare as quickly as possible after the accumulation has stopped.
Staff have expressed concerns to the local news media saying they are fearful that they will see additional negative publicity about their work on plowing.
I just wanted to relieve anyone’s fears that our streets will be worse during a snow storm. I believe we are just managing a potential future salt shortage issue in the proper manner and do not expect to see any change in the appearances of the streets.
Al Schumacher
Street Superintendent
This is the story you want: http://wkow.madison.com/News/index.php?ID=17756