Despite saving the town $120 per truckload, Public Works officials have stopped using a liquid treatment for road salt after 2,500 tons of the stored treated salt caked up into a solid mass.

Public Works Director Rick Russell said the department had to use backhoes to break up the salt – treated with a product called Ice B Gone – before it could be loaded onto trucks and spread around town on New Year’s Day.

“We were really disappointed with it. We had no problem with the performance, the stuff was working it good,” Russell said. “It didn’t jeopardize our operation, but I’m not saying it couldn’t get to that point. That’s why we stopped using it.”

Salem has been using Ice B Gone for about a year. Salt trucks spreading the treated material use about a third less salt than when using regular road salt. According to Russell, his department began treating road salt as a way to both cut costs and put less of the material into the environment without endangering public safety.

Local distributor Matthew Scott of New Hampshire Ice Melt defended the product, saying the problem was an isolated incident and that the Canadian manufacturer, Innovative Municipal Products, had tested a sample of the material and found nothing wrong.

Innovative Municipal Products did not return press inquiries as of press time. Scott pointed to the way the department handled and stored the treated material as the likely cause of the problem.

Double stacking the material to heights as much as 25 feet in the town’s salt storage shed and allowing moisture to mix with the material resulted in the caked mass, he said.

Trucks already loaded with the salt left out in the elements were also exposed to moisture, which then froze, according to Scott.

“They didn’t cover it and any of the material that was exposed to that snow got the (Ice B Gone) washed out of it. That’s why they ended up with 2 inches of frozen salt,” Scott said. “This is a one-time incident. The company has sold over 4 million gallons and this the only instance of this happening.”

Scott said the manufacturer recommends covering the salt trucks, a move that Russell rejected.

“We’re not covering them. We’ve never had to cover them and we’re not going to start,” he said. Russell added that the salt that had caked up in storage had been stored back in October and left unexposed to moisture.

Bill Burns, superintendent of Keene’s Public Works Department, has been using Ice B Gone for five years without an incident. He said the treated salt had cut back on overtime and fuel costs during the winter. The department plans to continue purchasing the treatment in the future, according to Burns.

Despite the product’s good performance, Russell said the town will go back to using regular salt until either the manufacturer or the supplier can come up with a definitive way to prevent the problem from coming up again.

“We’re done until (Scott) can prove what was wrong with his product,” Russell said. “This stuff is definitely not out of the question as long as I get some answers and promises. It hasn’t jeopardized public safety, but I can’t have 20 salters out there waiting to get loaded.”