
Episode 185: Give your infrastructure a low-salt diet
From ASCE Plot Points Podcast by American Society of Civil Engineers
January 20, 2026 · 17 min · Episode 185
About this episode
Connie Fortin and Tim Olson discuss low salt design as a solution to reduce salt usage in infrastructure projects.
It’s snow season in a lot of places right now – which means salt season. And salt season isn’t great for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is contaminated water. So, Connie Fortin and Tim Olson have a new idea. They call it low salt design – a way of reducing the need for salt from the very start of the project. Fortin is a low salt strategist and Olson a water resources engineer, both for Bolton and Menk in Minnesota. In episode 185 of ASCE Plot Points, Fortin and Oloen discuss low salt design and why the solutions might be even simpler than you ever imagined. Learn more about low salt design, including a free download with suggested solutions. And dive deeper into the concepts in an article Fortin and Olson wrote for the ASCE Journal of Cold Regions Engineering.
People in this episode
Guests: Connie Fortin, Tim Olson
Topics covered
- infrastructure
- low salt design
- environmental impact
- water resources
- snow season
- contaminated water
Keywords
- low salt design
- infrastructure
- salt season
- contaminated water
- water resources
- environmental solutions
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Bolton and Menk, ASCE Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Places: Minnesota
More episodes of ASCE Plot Points Podcast
- Episode 191: Rory Linehan and Elizabeth Losos, on the secret to success for smaller cities to build resilient infrastructure · May 4, 2026 · 42 min
- Episode 190: Xavi Fonoll Almansa, on getting creative with resource recovery · April 22, 2026 · 32 min
- Episode 189: Kristin Schultheis, on working across the watershed · April 21, 2026 · 17 min
- Episode 188: William Gonwa, on the power of numbers · April 20, 2026 · 24 min
- Episode 187: Meet ASCE’s new CEO, Peter J. O’Neil · March 30, 2026 · 27 min
- Episode 186: Manage your risk · January 27, 2026 · 18 min
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