Canada scores against salt with new "pucks"
Date: 01-Jan-02
Country: CANADA
The "pucks" are sensors embedded into Toronto roads that send information on pavement temperature and moisture, air temperature and wind speed to road weather information stations, the Toronto Star said on Friday.
That data is then sent to a central computer monitored by city staff to help them determine when to deploy salting equipment, the Star said.
An Environment Canada study last year found that the five million tonnes of salt sprayed on Canadian roads each year can kill fish by seeping into water, birds and roadside plants.
The "pucks" project hopes to reduce the amount of salt used on Toronto roads by between 10 percent to 25 per cent over the next few years. Toronto now uses between 130,000 and 150,000 tonnes of salt every year at a cost of about C$7.5 million.
Similar technologies are used in various North American jurisdictions and in Scandinavia.
