Road Salt

Linda Nunez & Gaby Loredo

      For our project we researched the affects that the road salt has on the environment.

Between 10 and 20 million tons of salt is used today. This massive use of road salt has caused an alarming increase in the salinity of our water. Road Salt contains sodium chloride, chemically abbreviated NaCl. In addition to NaCl, it usually has other chloride salts such as magnesium, calcium, and potassium chloride. There is no natural process by which chlorides are broken down, metabolized, taken up or removed from the environment.  In salt-sensitive plants, exposure to salt can result in poor growth, stunned leaves, heavy seed loads, twig and branch die-back, leaf-scorch, and premature leaf drop. Plants stressed by excessive salt are also more susceptible to biotic diseases and insect pests. We have learned about many of the harmful affects road salt has on the environment and in our presentation we discussed the ways we can minimize usage.