The case against brining is the topic of today’s blog. Is it good for you, your vehicle and the environment?

Per NJ 101.5, “it’s more likely to stay and work where it lands, creating a safer path for motorists.

But do the benefits outweigh the potential negative impacts?

Similar to salt, de-icing materials such as brine have their downsides for both motorists and the land.

Excessive use of de-icers can be environmentally detrimental “due to increasing sediment loads and soluble materials entering surface and ground water,” according to a guidance document for municipalities from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

“The excessive use of de-icers may adversely affect roadside vegetation, pollute waterways and/or groundwater, as well as adversely affect aquatic life,” the document reads.”

Also per the Washington Post, “Brine wants to eat through your car like a school of hungry piranhas, and more than 2 million gallons of the stuff has been sprayed on roads.” Also, “Brine, which is used to pre-treat roads in the hope that snow will melt on contact, gets into cracks and crevices in which a chunk of rock salt can’t lodge. It’s both cheaper and more effective. The Michigan Department of Transportation (Want to see corrosion? Go to Michigan.) determined a while back that 40 percent of rock salt spread on the roads bounced off to the shoulder and did no good.

Brine is sprayed on as a liquid. It doesn’t bounce, lands where it’s directed and is 100 percent effective.”

So our Governor Murphy, who has been using brine indiscriminately, is not only destroying our environment but also our vehicles. The judicious use of brine makes sense only when there is no rain before the snow starts to fall and if the temperature does not go below 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

I really think that we should go back to the spreading of rock salt and sand or maybe a method that involves a smaller concentration of brine with the addition of sand. The sand would give you more traction and it does not harm the environment.

To apply brine with sand would require a different delivery system so that the sand is saturated with brine and then applied as a spray to cover the roadway uniformly. Anyone who does make such a system be informed that I thought of it first!

So Governor Murphy stop being the Chicken Little of snow storms and start thinking before doing, for you are causing more problems than you are solving.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike