"Reduce Deicing Agent Damage"… Suwon City Sprays Salt Neutralizer on Street Trees

A Suwon City Hall official is spraying a salt neutralizer on the street trees. Photo by Suwon City Hall

The city of Suwon in Gyeonggi Province will spray a salt neutralizer on street trees within the district until the 17th to minimize damage caused by de-icing agents.

On the 2nd, Suwon City announced that it plans to apply the salt neutralizer over 34,000㎡, more than 2.5 times the 15,053㎡ area treated last year, including sections where de-icing agents were heavily applied last winter.

Calcium chloride and sodium chloride, the main components of de-icing agents, are strongly alkaline with a pH of 10 to 11, which raises soil pH and destroys soil aggregates, deteriorating soil physical properties.

Additionally, when de-icing agents with high salt content accumulate in the soil and adhere to leaves, tree roots get damaged, and the tips and edges of leaves wither. This leads to necrosis as nutrients and moisture cannot be properly absorbed.

The salt neutralizer sprayed on street trees this time insolubilizes calcium chloride accumulated in the soil and street trees, and leaches out sodium chloride, lowering soil pH to help restore soil health and the vitality of street trees.

A city official stated, "There has been significant damage to trees such as poor growth and death caused by de-icing agents," adding, "We will minimize salt damage to trees by installing de-icing agent barriers, spraying salt neutralizers, and planting salt-tolerant tree species."

The city has established and is implementing a three-stage plan to address de-icing agent damage. The first stage is a preventive phase that installs barriers to minimize salt damage to trees and protect their growth.

The second stage (emergency treatment) involves spraying salt neutralizers on green belts to normalize soil acidity (pH) and improve growth conditions. The third stage (follow-up management) is planting salt-tolerant tree species.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.