This Wisconsin county keeps roads clear, saves money by using cheese byproduct. Here's why

Yahoo

26-02-2025

Clearing snow and ice off Wisconsin roads can be costly in both materials and manpower. In a state where snowplows stay on municipal trucks well into March, liquid brine is essential in reducing salt usage and stretching winter road maintenance budgets.
While most of Wisconsin's 72 counties mix their own salt brine, Green County Highway Commissioner Chris Narveson has been using a byproduct of the state's cheese industry for over 20 years — cheese brine.
When snow is in the forecast, Narveson sends out his crew ahead of the storm, laying down streams of cheese brine on nearly 400 miles of state, county and town roads. When used as an anti-icing agent on roads and bridges, the salt crystals in the brine prevent water molecules from bonding together and forming ice.
"It just really buys us some time," Narveson said. "As the storm hits, we pre-wet the rock salt coming out of the truck spreader with brine so that the salt sticks to the pavement and activates."
The key to reaping the benefits of cheese brine lies in having a plentiful source nearby. At one time, Green County was home to over 300 cheese factories, many of them built by Swiss immigrants. Today there are just a handful remaining. One of those facilities is the Grande Cheese plant in the small unincorporated community of Juda, just five miles from Monroe, the county seat of Green County where the highway garage is located.
While the plant may be small, according to Grande Cheese the three-bay intake in Jude received over 3% of the total milk produced in Wisconsin last year. The facility churns out 280 pounds of Italian cheeses per minute creating a salty, watery byproduct that helps keep motorists safe in the winter.
Narveson says Grande employees fill a county-owned tanker truck with brine filtered for any solids and blended to a specific salinity of 23%.
"The salinity they use for their specific cheesemaking processes is a trade secret, so they blend it for what we need," Narveson said.
The brine is then transported back to the highway garage where it is stored in two large storage tanks that hold 50,000 gallons. Last year Green County used around 100,000 gallons of cheese brine on its roads. Narveson estimates the county will use around 125,000 gallons of cheese brine this winter.
During the height of the snow removal season, Narveson says the brine tanker truck makes several trips to the cheese plant in Juda for more cheese brine.
"Sometimes they can't keep up with our demand," he said. "It's a waste product for them and we're recycling it. We're saving money and they don't have to pay to dispose of it."
Narveson says it costs Green County around $2.80 to $4.20 per mile to use cheese brine on its roads.
"This winter rock salt costs around $100 per ton, costing ten times more per mile than cheese brine. Green County is the second-least user of salt in the entire state of Wisconsin," he said. "The proximity to the cheese plant also creates savings because we don't spend much on transportation."
Higher snow totals in northern Wisconsin can strain winter road maintenance budgets. Polk County administrator Emil Norby said he began investigating the use of cheese brine from F&A Dairy in Dresser in 2008 when he served as the county's public works/highway commissioner.
He told The Daily Cardinal that the county was looking to hold down costs and reduce salt and sand usage on county and state roads. In the first year, Norby says the county realized a 30% reduction in costs.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources initially had qualms over high levels of biochemical oxygen in cheese brine and its potential impact on the environment and human health. The agency, however, granted the county a permit to use salt brine on roadways.
Norby continued testing, comparing the efficacy of cheese brine-treated roads to those treated with conventional methods of sand and salt. Cheese-brine-treated roads saved the county money and had a quicker reaction time in clearing highways.
"It was a win-win for both Polk County and F&A Dairy," Norby told The Daily Cardinal.
The partnership between Polk and nearby Barron County and the dairy ended after Saputo Cheese shuttered the plant in 2019 after purchasing it the year before.
"Polk County was a pioneer when it came to testing and utilizing cheese brine on public roadways," said Josh Kelch, the current Polk County highway commissioner. "Unfortunately, we haven't found another source that makes sense due to transportation costs."
Kelch says the county has added Beet Heet as a brine enhancer. According to its manufacturer, the product is an eco-friendly de-icing agent primarily made from beet molasses, which contains natural sugars that help lower the freezing point of ice.
Sauk County Highway Commissioner Pat Gavinski, told Business Insider they have used a beet juice blend. It keeps roads clear a little longer than rock salt, Gavinski said, and the traffic doesn't seem to wear it off the road as quickly.
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Traffic Operations and Safety (TOPS) lab have found liquid brine in water highway maintenance cleared the state's highways faster, provided better friction on roadways and reduced overall salt usage.
'The data tells a very positive story for winter highway safety in Wisconsin,' says Andrea Bill, associate director of the TOPS Lab, which is housed in the UW-Madison College of Engineering. 'Liquid brine is an effective tool, and along with training, education and technology, our storm fighters are making effective reductions in the amount of chloride on our roads and improving the performance of winter roads.'
By creating a treatment option using less salt, brine can help stretch budgets. There are also benefits to the environment, as the process of clearing the highway uses less salt and prevents the bounce off effect that can lead granular salt into lakes and streams, according to the report.
Brown County Highway Commissioner Chris Hardy says brine is used in three methods:
'Anti-icing' is the practice of placing brine on roads/bridges in advance of a storm. The brine seeps into the pavement surface and prevents sleet/snow/rain from building a bond and then making the road icy or snow packed. It buys some time at beginning of storms.
'Brining' is the practice of applying straight brine direct to the pavement during a storm event. In this situation, we are using brine instead of rock salt. We use a lower amount of overall salt since brine works faster and at a lower concentration versus straight rock salt. It has restrictions since in liquid form, it does not have much 'staying power' (rock salt dissolves slowly and in some cases, it may stay on the road longer).
'Pre-mix' is the practice of adding salt brine to rock salt. This is the best of both worlds as the brine works faster providing some results quickly. Also, brine will wet the perimeter of rock salt crystals which can speed up the activation point for rock salt. Still will have rock salt on the road for long periods so has "staying power." Pre-mix can be highly effective if the amount of normal rock salt used is decreased because of the addition of brine.
This article originally appeared on Wisconsin State Farmer: Green County uses cheese brine to save money on winter road clearing