ECOLAB INC. — Director's Dealing 2010

Dec 3, 2010

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: ECOLAB INC (ECL)
CIK: 0000031462
Period of Report: 2010-12-01

Reporting Person: Hickey Michael A (Exec. VP, QSR & Service Sector)

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2010-12-01	Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy)	$48.055	A	19300	Acquired	2020-12-01	Common Stock (19300)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	11269.213	Direct
Common Stock	3573.332	Indirect

Footnotes

F1: Includes 11.894 shares acquired by reporting person on January 21, 2010, 12.200 shares acquired on April 20, 2010, 11.471 shares acquired on July 20, 2010 and 10.653 shares acquired on October 20, 2010 by dividend reinvestment under the Dividend Reinvestment Plan for shareholders of Ecolab sponsored by Computershare Trust Company, Inc.

F2: Number of UNITS in the Ecolab Stock Fund of the Ecolab Savings Plan (401(k) Plan) as of October 31, 2010. Includes 78.697 UNITS acquired since the reporting person's last report. (The 3,573.332 UNITS are the equivalent of approximtely 6,668 shares of the issuer's Common Stock.)

F3: The option will be exercisable, on a cumulative basis, as to one-third of the option shares (excluding any fractional portion less than one share), 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.