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Pass the Salt

Today we have salt in overabundance; we use it to preserve food, and it tastes so good that the average American consumes more than 3 to 5 grams a day. The recommended daily requirement is 1.5 grams per day. Excess salt ends up in the blood, where it draws in water from the rest of the body, elevating blood pressure in your arteries. We are adapted to crave salt, but eating too much salt can make you sick.

It should come as no surprise that salting our earth will make it sick as well. Minnesota applies an estimated 365,000 tons of salt to metro area roadways each winter. That's TONS. Most of which will end up polluting lakes where it can be lethal to fish, bugs and vegetation. Salt can also cause damage up to 60 feet away from a road, and affect plants by either leaching into the soil or spraying directly onto leaves and stems from passing traffic.

What can you do?

• Use salt sparingly. If you see it on dry sidewalks, sweep it up.
• Use something other than rock salt if you need to de-ice your walks and driveway. Sand, wood ashes, plain cat litter or a calcium magnesium acetate product are good alternatives.
• Avoid de-icing products which contain chloride as an ingredient.
• Near roadways, avoid planting salt-sensitive species such as little leaf linden, sugar maple, red maple, crabapple, white spruce, and white pine.
• Highly susceptible plants can be wrapped with burlap if near roads.

Extensive salt damage to yews along sidewalk