Understanding reduced salt practices used by commercial snow removal businesses in the Lake Champlain Basin: A mixed methods analysis Journal of Environmental Management

Road salt used for snow and ice management can impact ecosystems, pose risks to 2 aquatic life, create human health concerns, and degrade infrastructure. Such impacts are 3 often attributed to public winter maintenance operations, but commercial snow removal 4 businesses (private contractors) also play a role and have not been previously studied. 5 This limits the ability of outreach professionals to provide education that targets private 6 contractors’ motivations for or barriers to using reduced salt practices. This mixed-7 methods study focused on private contractors in the Lake Champlain basin in Vermont 8 and New York (USA). A questionnaire and interviews characterized contractors’ use of 9 reduced salt best practices and the key decision-making factors leading to their use. 10 Contractors most often used equipment with adjustable application rates and plowed 11 frequently to avoid snow and ice buildup. They were most commonly motivated to use 12 reduced salt best practices by perceived liability or safety concerns, customer 13 expectations, and cost savings. Contractors most commonly avoided adopting best 14 practices due to cost, time, and customer expectations. Interviews revealed that peer 15 influence also played a role in contractors’ decisions to implement best practices. 16 Contractors that serviced larger surface areas and that managed commercial properties 17 used more reduced salt best practices. Based on survey results, we make 18 recommendations about forms and content of outreach and education to promote 19 implementation of reduced-salt practices in the future. Grant no. NA14OAR4170081 Grant no. NA18OAR4170099 Grant no. NA22OAR4170120