# Road Salt Code Annual Report: Who Files by June 30, What Goes In and How Spreader Data Helps

Road organizations under the federal Road Salt Code file an annual report by June 30. Who must report, what the form asks and how spreader GPS data helps.

Source: https://www.highpointgps.com/resources/road-salt-code-annual-report
By Max Karnaukh, VP of Sales, published 2026-10-21, updated 2026-10-21

## What Is the Road Salt Code Annual Report?

The Road Salt Code annual report is the form that road organizations covered by Environment and Climate Change Canada's Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts submit by June 30 each year. It describes the organization's salt management during the previous winter: how much road salt it used, how it stores and applies salt, how it disposes of snow, how it trains staff and what it does in areas vulnerable to salt.

Reports are filed online through ECCC's Single Window Information Manager (SWIM). ECCC says the form collects the information listed in Annex C of the Code and uses it, with winter severity, environmental monitoring and road safety data, to measure how far the Code has been put into practice.

The Code was published on April 3, 2004, under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999. ECCC notes that about 5 million tonnes of road salts are used on Canadian roads in an average year. The Code is written as recommendations (an organization "should" prepare a plan and report), and it does not replace any federal, provincial, territorial or municipal law on road salt or road safety.

## Who Must Report Under the Road Salt Code?

The Code applies to organizations that use more than 500 tonnes of road salts a year, measured as a 5-year rolling average, and to organizations with vulnerable areas in their territory that road salts could affect. An organization is any public entity that uses or is responsible for road salts on public roads in Canada, or a company holding a concession or lease to manage a public road, unless the public entity behind that concession has a salt management plan the company agrees to carry out.

Road salts used for domestic, private or institutional purposes are outside the Code, and so is salt on parking lots and private property. An organization that becomes subject to the Code is asked to notify the Minister of its intent to prepare a salt management plan within 6 months, then send the Annex C information by June 30 of the following year and every year after. Organizations that hire contractors should make sure those contractors follow the parts of the plan that cover their work.

For the winter of 2023 to 2024, 250 road organizations reported: nine provinces, one territory, 225 municipalities, four private road organizations and 11 national parks and other federal organizations. Quebec is the exception: ECCC states that the federal Code is not implemented there, because Quebec launched its own Strategy for the Environmental Management of Road Salts in 2010, which public and private road administrations join on a voluntary basis.

## What Goes Into the Annual Report?

The report covers a winter season, which ECCC defines as generally November of one year to April of the next, and a reporting year carries the name of the year the winter ended. The report due June 30, 2027 therefore describes the winter of 2026 to 2027.

ECCC keeps the original Annex C on its site as an archive and says the current form is the one in SWIM, so check the live form before you start. The archived Annex C lists these sections.

| Section | What it asks for |
| --- | --- |
| Organization | Name, address, technical contact and, for municipalities, population |
| Salt management plan | Whether a plan exists and when it was approved; for municipalities, the number of events requiring salt application during the winter |
| Materials used | Total quantity of road salts used for winter road maintenance, and the non-chloride materials used |
| Material storage | Your objectives for storage best practices and the state of each one |
| Equipment and salt application | Your objectives for equipment and application practices, the state of each one, and the state of your equipment calibration program |
| Snow disposal | Your objectives for snow disposal best practices and the state of each one |
| Training | Whether a winter maintenance training program exists, its objectives and the state of staff training |
| Vulnerable areas | Whether you have areas vulnerable to road salts, and the extra practices used there |
| Environmental monitoring | Chloride concentrations and sampling frequency at each location, if available |

## Which Records Back Up the Report?

The Code asks organizations to keep all the data they report, copies of the salt management plan and its revisions, training records and every yearly review report, including those with corrective actions. That information is kept for 7 years and made available to the Minister of the Environment on request.

The plan itself is expected to include monitoring of its own effectiveness, record keeping and a yearly review. The Code's objective for salt application is to deliver the right amount of road salts in the right place at the right time, which is a question about each truck, each route and each storm.

## Which National Targets Does ECCC Track?

In December 2014, ECCC set seven performance indicators and national targets to measure the Code. ECCC's overview of the 2024 reports, which covers the winter of 2023 to 2024, shows where reporting organizations stood. Three of the targets concern spreading equipment and practice, the part of the report where truck data matters most.

| Indicator | Reported for 2024 | Target |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Organizations that review their salt management plan every year | 55% | 100% |
| Road salts under a permanent roof and on impermeable pads | 95% | 100% |
| Treated abrasives covered | 61% | 75% |
| Vehicles equipped with groundspeed electronic controllers | 92% | 95% |
| Organizations using pre-wetting or pre-treated salt | 63% | 95% |
| Vehicles equipped for pre-wetting | 80% | 75% |
| Organizations that identified salt vulnerable areas and prepared an action plan | 34% | 95% |

## How Does GPS and Spreader Data Help Produce the Report?

A GPS tracking device on each plow and salter records where the truck went, when and at what speed. Wired to the spreader through an auxiliary input, it also records when the spreader was on, so every point on the route shows whether salt was going down. ECCC's FAQ names electronic spreader controllers as a better salt application technology; the controller sets the rate, and the tracking record shows where and when it was running.

Controller data can come into the same record. Geotab's IOX-WRKS module, which plugs into the GO device, works with more than 20 material spreader models, reads road and air temperature and plow position, and connects to Parker, Muncie, Genesis and Marwis systems through its CAN connection; Geotab lists the GO9 and GO9+ as compatible devices, so the device model is checked first. Where the controller provides spread rates, they appear next to the route.

Those records feed several parts of the report. Spreader-on time by route and by storm documents your application practices and gives municipalities a basis for counting the events that required salt. Calibration dates logged per unit in fleet maintenance software answer the calibration question. Geofences drawn around vulnerable areas show how much spreading happened inside them. Contractor trucks with the same device appear in the same report.

Know the limits. The total quantity of salt used normally comes from purchase and stockpile records; a tracking device knows where the spreader was on, and only controller data gives an amount. Nothing on the truck measures chloride in the water.

## A Season Routine That Makes June 30 Easy

Before the first storm, check each spreader input and controller connection, record calibration on every unit, and load routes and vulnerable areas as zones. During the winter, export spreader-on time by route after each event and keep it with the storm log. When the season ends, compile route data, salt deliveries and stockpile counts, and run the yearly plan review the Code asks for before you open the SWIM form.

High Point GPS works with municipalities and public works departments across Canada and the United States, in English and French. Our professional installers fit the GPS tracking devices and wire the plow and spreader inputs, and the High Point GPS platform reports spreader-on time by route. For the public side of winter operations, read our guides on plow tracker maps and on GPS proof of service for snow removal.

## FAQ

### When is the Road Salt Code annual report due?

The annual report is due by June 30 each year and covers the previous winter, which ECCC defines as generally November to April. Organizations file it online through ECCC's Single Window Information Manager (SWIM). An organization newly subject to the Code sends its first report by June 30 of the year after it becomes subject, then every year.

### Who has to follow the Code of Practice for road salts?

The Code applies to road organizations that use more than 500 tonnes of road salts a year on a 5-year rolling average, and to organizations with salt-vulnerable areas in their territory. It covers public entities responsible for salt on public roads and companies managing a public road under a concession or lease. Domestic, private and institutional uses are excluded.

### What information goes into the road salt annual report?

The report asks for the total quantity of road salts used, non-chloride materials, the status of your salt management plan, and your progress on storage, application, equipment calibration, snow disposal, training and vulnerable areas. Municipalities also report how many events required salt application. Chloride monitoring results are included where available. The current form is in ECCC's SWIM system.

### How long must road salt records be kept?

The Code asks organizations to keep all reported data, copies of the salt management plan and its revisions, training records and yearly review reports for 7 years. The records must be available to the Minister of the Environment on request. Route and spreader data from GPS tracking that supports the reported figures belongs in the same file.

### Does the federal Road Salt Code apply in Quebec?

No. ECCC states that the federal Code is not implemented in Quebec. Quebec launched its own Strategy for the Environmental Management of Road Salts in 2010, which public and private road administrations join voluntarily. Its objectives are similar to the Code's: a salt management plan based on best practices in storage, spreading and snow disposal.

## Sources

- [ECCC: Code of Practice for the Environmental Management of Road Salts](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/pollutants/road-salts/code-practice-environmental-management.html)
- [ECCC: Road salts annual reports (June 30, SWIM)](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/pollutants/road-salts/annual-reports.html)
- [ECCC: Road salts frequently asked questions](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/pollutants/road-salts/frequently-asked-questions.html)
- [ECCC: Annual overview of data reported (2019 to 2024) in the context of national targets](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/pollutants/road-salts/code-practice-environmental-management-overview-data.html)
- [Quebec Ministry of Transportation and Sustainable Mobility: Gestion environnementale des sels de voirie (in French)](https://www.transports.gouv.qc.ca/fr/gestion-environnementale-sels-voirie/Pages/default.aspx)
- [Geotab Support: IOX-WRKS](https://support.geotab.com/ioxs/doc/iox-wrks)