ECOLAB INC. — Director's Dealing 2006

Sep 15, 2006

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: ECOLAB INC (ECL)
CIK: 0000031462
Period of Report: 2006-09-13

Reporting Person: Snedeker C William (EVP-Global Services Sector)

Non-Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Code	Shares	Price	A/D	Holdings After	Ownership
2006-09-13	Common Stock	M	17000	$19.922	Acquired	18104.190	Direct
2006-09-13	Common Stock	S	17000	$42.00	Disposed	1106.665	Direct

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2006-09-13	Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy)	$19.922	M	17000	Disposed	2009-08-13	Common Stock (17000)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	2521.359	Indirect

Footnotes

F1: Includes 2.807 shares acquired by reporting person in April 2006 under a dividend reinvestment feature of the Ecolab Employee Stock Purchase Plan, plus 0.069 shares acquired by reporting person on April 20, 2006 and 0.066 shares acquired by reporting person on July 20, 2006 under the Ecolab Dividend Reinvestment Plan.

F2: Number of UNITS owned by the reporting person in the Ecolab Stock Fund of the Ecolab Savings Plan (401(k) Plan) as of August 31, 2006. (The 2,521.359 UNITS are equivalent to approximately 4,706 SHARES of the issuer's Common Stock.)

F3: Option granted under the Ecolab Inc. 1997 Stock Incentive Plan on August 13, 1999. The option became exercisable, on a cumulative basis, as to 25% of the option shares (excluding any fractional portion less than one share), on each of the first, second and third anniversaries of the date of grant and as to the remaining option shares on the fourth anniversary of the date of grant.