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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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Icy Roads? Beet Juice Just the Right Tonic

New mixture cuts salt, works colder, but side effects still unknown

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(Newser) – Road workers in the Chicago area are shaking up their winter ice-busting cocktail with an odd new mixer: beet juice. Sanitation officials are pleased with the combination, which reduces the necessary rock salt (harmful to plants and water supplies) by up to 30% and is effective at temperatures far lower than salt alone, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Runoff from de-iced roads is a problem in the area, damaging plants and radically increasing salt levels in waterways. Even so, environmentalists are wary of the reduced-salt mixtures, which “may have new, as well as unknown, effects of their own.” Another wrinkle: Beet juice ups the price of de-icing compounds, and may cause “some sort of film on windshields.”

Icy roads are being attacked with a new weapon: the sugar beet.
Icy roads are being attacked with a new weapon: the sugar beet.   (AP Photo/Raytheon Antarctic Services, Allen Delaney, HO)
Sugar beets are being juiced to augment and replace rock salt in deicing compounds in the Midwest.
Sugar beets are being juiced to augment and replace rock salt in deicing compounds in the Midwest.   (AP Photo/Bob Child)
Pedestrians come to the aid of police who managed to get their cruiser stuck in snow and ice during a storm. Winter storms have pummeled the Midwest this winter.
Pedestrians come to the aid of police who managed to get their cruiser stuck in snow and ice during a storm. Winter storms have pummeled the Midwest this winter.   (AP Photo/Mike Levy)
Commuters battle a winter storm Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 in downtown Chicago. The area is rolling out a new deicing compound with beet juice to decrease salt use.
Commuters battle a winter storm Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2008 in downtown Chicago. The area is rolling out a new deicing compound with beet juice to decrease salt use.   (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)
Road crews are turning to unconventional deicers, like beet juice, to reduce salt use and increase effectiveness.
Road crews are turning to unconventional deicers, like beet juice, to reduce salt use and increase effectiveness.   (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Jim Beckel)
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