Storms put pinch on salt in Lake County
Aside from fender-benders, sore muscles from shoveling and elongated travel times, an overnight snowstorm caused another problem -- depleted salt supplies.
Several Lake County towns said they're running low on road salt and hope for another shipment before the next storm.
Lake Zurich started the season with 1,200 tons of salt, which fell to 300 tons by Christmas. The village typically uses about 200 tons per snow event.
"We're thin right now from this snow event," village engineer and public works director Dave Heyden said Friday. "We're just trying to conserve it until we can get another shipment."
Heyden named above-average snowfall in December and January as the culprit.
"Our storage only covers so many storm events," he said.
The region was hit with 7 to 10 inches of snow between Thursday night and Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. Vernon Hills and Libertyville collected some of the highest totals -- 9 and 10 inches, respectively.
With that much snow, officials in those towns had no choice but to dig deeper into their salt supplies.
They buy salt through a joint program along with neighboring communities and have maxed out on their allotment.
Vernon Hills sent an e-mail alert warning residents it must conserve road salt until additional supplies can be found and purchased.
"We're just checking with vendors and some of our landscaping contractors to see what they can do with their private sources," village public works director Ed Laudenslager said.
The village has exhausted its allotment from the state purchasing contract, so it won't receive any more salt. It has about 900 tons of salt remaining.
"That's got to last us the rest of the winter unless we find some more salt," Laudenslager said. "We're only salting on our main thoroughfares. Our secondary streets we are salting at intersections and curves. If we're judicious in our salt use, we should be OK."
Officials are looking for alternatives, but they are expensive and difficult to find.
One option most everyone is using is adding sand to the salt to extend its use and provide traction for motorists at intersections.
Libertyville got lucky and was able to buy 500 tons of salt from other sources.
"I'm not sure whether or not we'll be able to get any more," village public works director John Heinz said. "We are doing what we can to conserve when and where we can. If it continues to snow like this, we're going to struggle to try to keep up with it."