Protection of Precious Waters from Road Salt: Mitigation Through Roadside Ditch CaptureStatus: CompleteReport Date: 03/23/2026 Summary: . Developing techniques and processes to capture chloride from salt used to treat roads during and after winter storms before it reaches watersheds would provide significant environmental benefits. While extremely challenging, this project attempted to direct chloride-contaminated water to permeable treatment media bags located in roadside ditches to capture chloride. Test results found insufficient chloride capture by the treatment media in this project, but solutions for numerous operational obstacles were identified that will be invaluable to similar projects and testing in the future. Final Deliverables: Protection of Precious Waters from Road Salt: Mitigation Through Roadside Ditch Capture (Report #2026-07) Permeable Barriers for Absorbing Road Salt Runoff (Research Summary) Related Materials: Permeable Barriers for Absorbing Road Salt Runoff (Blog Post) Related Research: Project Personnel: Principal Investigator: Stephen Druschel Technical Liaison: Jed Falgren Project Coordinator: Barbara Fraley Panel Members: Brooke Asleson - MPCA Chase Fester - Operations Div Admin Joseph Huneke - Maintenance Scott Morgan - District 7 Shannon Holland - Maintenance Tara Carson - Environmental Stewardship
