History of Sand and Salt Pile Program

A report, entitled Sand and Salt Storage in Maine (pdf file), was prepared for the 120th Maine Legislature. Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (off-site).

In 1985, the Maine Legislature directed the Department of Environmental Protection to prioritize all known sand/salt piles according to the extent of their ground water contamination problems. A registration process began and, between January and September 1986, an initial visit was made to each of the nearly 500 registered sites.

In November 1986, the first sand/salt project priority list was finalized. Each site was placed into one of five categories based upon its impact on private and public drinking water supplies. Priority 1 sites had one or more wells nearby in which chloride levels exceeded state drinking water standards; Priority 5 sites were in areas completely served by a public water supply. The original legislation also required all owners/operators of sand/salt storage areas to construct storage buildings and established construction deadlines based on priority number.

The project priority list was used by the Department of Transportation in the allocation of reimbursement funds for the construction of sand/salt storage facilities. Municipalities and counties are eligible for reimbursement between 25% and 100% of construction costs. Initially, it was anticipated that all sand/salt storage piles listed on the priority list would be in suitable storage facilities within five years. However, years of chronic underfunding led to fewer than one-quarter of the municipal and county buildings constructed.

In May 1998, a task force composed of representative of the Departments of Environmental Protection, Transportation and Human Services, the Maine Municipal Association and legislative representatives began a review and evaluation of the sand/salt storage facility program in Maine. Legislation to implement recommendations from the task force was passed by the 119th Legislature and a number of programmatic changes occurred at both DEP and DOT.

First, the DEP was required to review the project priority numbers of all public and private sand/salt piles and to publish a final project priority list for municipal and county sites by April 1, 2000 and for all other state, private and other sites by July 1, 2000. This effort began with a re-registration of all uncovered sand/salt piles and site visits to more than 300 sand/salt storage locations. All sand/salt piles were given a project priority number between 1 and 5. Priority 1 sites are those having an immediate and substantial impact upon local drinking water supplies. Priority 5 sites have minimal impact upon local drinking water.

In total, the DEP established project priority numbers for 449 uncovered, Sand/Salt storage piles that had been registered with the department. The index to the right provides links to the project priority lists for both municipal and county sand/salt piles and all other sand/salt piles.

The Department of Transportation continues to reimburse municipalities and counties between 25% and 100% of construction costs. However, beginning with legislative changes in 1999, only owners/operators of Priority 1, 2 and 3 Sand/Salt piles are required to construct storage buildings and remain eligible for state reimbursement.

Owners/operators of Priority 4 and 5 sand/salt piles are no longer required to construct storage buildings and, therefore, are no longer eligible for state reimbursement. Any storage buildings at Priority 4 or 5 sites constructed after November 1, 1999 are no longer be eligible for State reimbursement. Furthermore, as long as Priority 4 and 5 municipal and county sand/salt piles remain at their current locations, municipal and county governments can never be in violation of any ground water classification with respect to discharges to ground water from those sites.

Any new sand and salt piles registered with the DEP after October 1, 1999 and all other existing (state and private) sand and salt piles must comply with operational and best management practices developed by DEP. The Board of Environmental Protection adopted Chapter 574, "Siting and Operation of Road Salt and Sand-Salt Storage Areas" on November 15, 2001. The rule became effective on December 3, 2001.

Sand/Salt Program

History of Sand and Salt Pile Program