Much is written and said each winter about the effects of anti-icing and de-icing chemicals on the environment, but little is said of their benefits to the traveling public. The truth is that anti-icing and de-icing chemicals are essential to the safe transportation of goods and people. When applied heavily and frequently, chemicals can pollute receiving waters, but the degree of their damage largely depends on the type and designated use of the receiving water, and on the drainage system used to discharge the runoff.

Surface waters are not as vulnerable to chemicals as are ground waters because their turbulent actions blend and dilute plumes of incoming liquids almost immediately after the chemicals enter the mainstream. Ground waters, on the other hand, are more susceptible to pollution since there may be no turbulent actions to dissolve the chemicals when the runoff percolates through the soil and enters the water table.

Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) and Potassium Acetate (KAc) are chemicals most benign to the environment because they contain weak biodegradable acids. Sodium Chloride (NaCl), Calcium Chloride (CaCl

2

), and Magnesium Chloride (MgCl

2

), on the other hand, leave residues of chloride ions on the highway surface that may not only contaminate surrounding ground waters, but they may also corrode motor vehicles and bridge structures.