Madison Schools Get $30,000 to Cut Winter Salt Use
Two sewerage district grants will fund a liquid brine pilot and a low-salt design review at three rebuilt schools.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Administration
The Madison School District received two grants totaling $30,000 from the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, with each grant providing $15,000. The funds will support efforts to reduce winter salt use and chloride pollution in local waterways.
Why it matters
Winter salt is the main contributor to high chloride concentrations in Wisconsin waterways, and 50 rivers and streams and one lake in the state have been designated as impaired for that reason. Reducing chloride pollution requires changes to design, maintenance and operations, not only how much salt is applied during a storm.
The grants total $30,000, with $15,000 for each of two awards from the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District. Fifty rivers and streams and one lake in Wisconsin are designated impaired by high chloride concentrations, and the grants will run until May 31.
The players
Madison School District
The public school district serving Madison, Wisconsin, which received the grants and will run the pilot and school design review.
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
The regional wastewater utility that awarded the grants under its Chloride Reduction Incentive Programs.
Bolton & Menk
A Minnesota-based civil engineering firm that will review the designs of three new schools for ways to reduce salt demand.
The details
One grant funds a liquid brine pilot, which is applied to pavement before storms to prevent ice, at high schools, the Doyle Administration Building, Holtzman Road facilities and other large paved areas, with staff training through Wisconsin Salt Wise. The second grant funds a review by Bolton & Menk of the designs of Orchard Ridge Elementary/Toki Middle School, Crestwood Elementary and Anana Elementary, which are being rebuilt under the district's 2024 referendum, focusing on drainage, landscaping and snow storage.
Timeline
2024: Madison voters approved a referendum authorizing the rebuilding of three schools.
Nov. 10, 2026: The grants were announced.
May 31, 2027: The grants end.
Season Trajectory
The grants respond directly to Wisconsin's list of 50 impaired rivers and streams and one lake, where winter salt is identified as the main source of high chloride. The Madison projects extend that response from road treatment into school building design.
Students and staff at the pilot schools may see liquid brine applied to pavement ahead of winter storms rather than rock salt. The design review could change drainage, landscaping and snow storage at three rebuilt Madison schools.
The takeaway
Reducing winter salt pollution depends as much on how sites are designed and maintained as on how much salt is spread during a storm. Schools and other large property owners can review drainage and snow storage choices with that in mind.
Further reading
For more on how local school systems run their operations, see Administration in Madison.
