ECOLAB INC. — Director's Dealing 2006

Jul 31, 2006

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: ECOLAB INC (ECL)
CIK: 0000031462
Period of Report: 2006-07-27

Reporting Person: SCHMECHEL DANIEL J (Senior VP & Controller)

Non-Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Code	Shares	Price	A/D	Holdings After	Ownership
2006-07-27	Common Stock	M	4000	$7.5938	Acquired	24320.426	Direct
2006-07-27	Common Stock	F	1790	$42.33	Disposed	22533.315	Direct

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2006-07-27	Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy)	$7.5938	M	4000	Disposed	2006-08-16	Common Stock (4000)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	2255.029	Indirect

Footnotes

F1: Reflects the reporting person's payment of the exercise price and withholding taxes for a stock option issued in accordance with Rule 16b-3 by withholding shares of Ecolab Common Stock.

F2: Includes 1.030 shares acquired by reporting person on January 20, 2006, 0.960 shares acquired by reporting person on April 20, 2006 and 0.905 shares acquired by reporting person on July 20, 2006 under the Ecolab Dividend Reinvestment Plan.

F3: Number of UNITS in the Ecolab Stock Fund of the Ecolab Savings Plan (401(k) Plan) as of June 30, 2006. Includes 139.795 UNITS acquired since the reporting person's last report. (The 2,255.029 UNITS are the equivalent of approximately 4,212 shares of the issuer's Common Stock.)

F4: Option granted under the Ecolab Inc. 1993 Stock Incentive Plan on August 16, 1996. The option was originally reported as covering 2,000 shares at an exercise price of $15.1875 per share, but has been adjusted to reflect a stock split on June 6, 2003. The option became exercisable as to 25% of the total shares subject to the option (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 shares as of the fourth anniversary on the date of grant.