€250k brine facility for grit maintenance is approved

A NEW brine saturation facility is set to be located in Palmerstown, which will operate as a grit and winter maintenance depot for South Dublin County.

Brine consists of a solution of salt and water used in conjunction with rock salt to treat icy roads.

Members agreed to proceed with a plan by South Dublin County Council for the construction of a brine saturation facility at the existing salt depot on Old Dublin Road in Palmerstown, beside the Deadman’s Inn.

A report by the council said that they carry out winter maintenance on over 300km of its road network using a dry treatment known as rock salt, and to improve efficiency and reduce salt usage, it is proposed to convert to a pre-wet treatment by introducing brine.

At the council meeting on Monday, Mick Mulhern, SDCC’s Director of Land Use, Planning and Transportation said that they are “consolidating all of our depot winter maintenance from Palmerstown in the coming year or so.”

Cllr Cathal King (SF) asked how much the facility will cost and if any savings will accrue, while Cllr Ronan McMahon (Ind) enquired what equipment will be used and if other councils are doing something similar.

Responding, Mr Mulhern said construction of the facility will go out to tender but estimates installation costs to be about €250k which they have allocated within the capital programme.

“In terms of savings, we spend in the region of €50k to €70k a year and I can double check those figures and come back to you in terms of our spend on rock salt,” said Mulhern.

“That cost will reduce, it will take a number of years to make a saving on it, but it will break even in a number of years as well as the environmental benefit to it.”

Mr Mulhern noted a requirement for all local authorities to do this over the coming years as set out by TII (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) and that SDCC were “ahead of the curve” in that respect, along with a couple of other local authorities.

According to the report, the facility will include a water tank which will harvest rainwater from an existing barn, a brine storage tank, a salt silo, and a brine saturator.

The depot is to be a sealed unit to prevent any contaminants entering the process and will be fitted with anti-siphon valves and leak detection alerts.