Brine Making

The City makes brine at two of our five street maintenance yards.  Brine is distributed to all yards and used during ice and snow removal operations.

Brine is bascially salt water. It is a very effective de-icing agent when applied directly to pavement. It is also applied to granular salt and sand before applying those materials to the pavement. Wetted material stays on the pavement and melts ice and snow faster than salt without brine.

Some of the brine is mixed with a sugar beet derivative. This lowers the freeze point below that of pure brine.

Brine is made in a large stainless steel vat. Salt is loaded into the top of the vat and water is added.

When the salt has saturated the solution, it is pumped to a storage tank. A small amount of water is added to reduce the concentration to the optimal percentage. Ten to twenty percent sugar beet derivative may be added also.

Brine is delivered to other locations using a 3,000 gallon tanker truck.