Bill Text - SB511 (2024)

Relative to salt reduction in Merrimack.


Revision: Nov. 18, 2023, 11:31 a.m.

 

2024 SESSION

24-2918.0

11/08

 

SENATE BILL [bill number]

 

AN ACT relative to salt reduction in Merrimack.

 

SPONSORS: [sponsors]

 

COMMITTEE: [committee]

 

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

 

ANALYSIS

 

This bill specifies salt application requirements and procedures in Merrimack.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

24-2918.0

11/08

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four

 

AN ACT relative to salt reduction in Merrimack.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  New Section; Salt Reduction; Town of Merrimack.  Amend RSA 489-C by inserting after section 489-C:5 the following new section:

489-C:6  Salt Reduction; Town of Merrimack

I.  The department of transportation shall use liquid brine only, and not crystallized salt, for anti-icing and de-icing on Industrial Drive west of the Everett Turnpike to Continental Blvd, and on Continental Blvd from Industrial Drive south to Camp Sargent Road and north to Greens Pond Road, provided that temperatures are greater than 18 degrees Fahrenheit.

II.  Departmental brine application trucks used in Merrimack and within the dedicated wellhead protection area will be calibrated monthly.

III.  The department shall maintain a salt to water solution for its brine near or at 23.3 percent.

IV.  The department shall pretreat with a direct liquid brine application to the road 24 hours before the storm when temperatures exceed 18 degrees.

V.  The department shall pre-treat Industrial and Continental Blvd with prewetted crystallized salt only when temperatures are below 18 degrees.

VI.  Only department trucks, and no subcontracted plows or salt or brine applicators shall be used on Continental Blvd or Industrial Drive within the designated wellhead protection area unless subcontracted exclusively to the Town of Merrimack Public Works Department.

VII.  Operators of the brine application and plow truck drivers shall be educated in anti-icing techniques and shall be SnoPro certified or possess other equivalent truck certification.

VIII.  When the temperatures are below the minimum recommended for brine application, all department trucks applying crystallized salt in Merrimack shall be equipped with salt spreaders which include mechanical or electronic applicators paced with the speed of the trucks, so that no salt can be applied automatically when the trucks are stopped.

IX.  The department shall accurately track brine and crystallized salt use within the Naticook Brook Aquifer watershed area using appropriate and common technology capable of meeting this objective.  This data will be provided to the Merrimack Valley District and the Town of Merrimack on a monthly basis.

X.  The rates of crystallized salt applied in the Naticook Brook Aquifer watershed shall be less than 200 lbs per lane mile during any storm that occurs that is below 18 degrees.

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect upon its passage.