ECOLAB INC. — Director's Dealing 2007

Aug 2, 2007

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: ECOLAB INC (ECL)
CIK: 0000031462
Period of Report: 2007-07-31

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

Non-Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Code	Shares	Price	A/D	Holdings After	Ownership
2007-07-31	Common Stock	M	4000	$10.9453	Acquired	42820.043	Direct
2007-07-31	Common Stock	F	2298	$42.50	Disposed	40523.002	Direct

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2007-07-31	Common Stock	$10.9453	M	4000	Disposed	2007-08-15	Common Stock (4000)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	2390.15	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 delivering or withholding shares of Ecolab Common Stock.

F2: Includes .959 shares acquired by reporting person on July 16, 2007 under the Ecolab Dividend Reinvestment Plan.

F3: The reporting person indirectly holds 2,390.15 UNITS in the Ecolab Stock Fund of the Ecolab Savings Plan (401(k) Plan) as of June 30, 2007. (The 2,390.15 UNITS are equivalent to approximately 4,463 SHARES of Common Stock.)

F4: Option granted under the Ecolab Inc. 1997 Stock Incentive Plan on August 15, 1997. The option was originally reported as covering 2,000 shares at an exercise price of $21.890625 but has been adjusted to reflect a stock split on June 6, 2003. The option became exercisable, cumulatively, as to one-third of the total shares subject to the option on each of the first and second anniversaries of the date of grant and as to the remaining shares on the third anniversary of the date of grant.