Milwaukee to treat some icy streets with cheese brine this winter

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- When the snow flies this winter, the City of Milwaukee will be testing a new tool in its street-clearing arsenal. It's not a high-tech plow or specialized blade. The city will be mixing in cheese brine with its rock salt.

The city is getting the mozzarella brine at no charge from the F&A Dairy in Dresser, Wisconsin. This type of brine was chosen because of its high salt content which is expected to work best with rock salt.



“It makes it work when the temperatures are colder which is really what we need to have, because salt by itself will only work at maybe 22 degrees Fahrenheit,” said Jeffrey Tews, the fleet operations manager with the DPW.

“We are hoping for the best. There are a lot of questions that we have as to how affective it can be, and at what temperatures you should not use it,” said Tews.

The pilot neighborhood will be Bay View. Then depending on how well it works there they will determine the next step.

“We will see how this works, if it works, great if it doesn’t we will try something else,” said Mayor Tom Barrett.

The DPW is also reminding citizens to prepare for the cold, ice and snow, specifically asking them to check streets for posted winter parking rules which went into effect December 1st.

“We are not looking at this as an opportunity to give tickets and to raise money. We are looking at this as a way to control the traffic flow and make it easier for our salting and plowing operations to occur," the mayor explained.