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[Michaelangelica]

that's a lot of salt!

Save your garden from salt damage
By Joe T.
Canada uses about five million tonnes of rock salt each year, most of which ends up in our lakes and rivers. There are a variety of synthetic de-icers, some more eco-friendly than others. Submitted by Joe T. to Green Lifestyle | Note-it ...
Care2 News Network - Care2 News Network

Glut of snow puts big dent in salt supplies
Dec 16, 2007 @ 05:29 PM
By Jeff Kolkey
RRSTAR.COM
ROCKFORD -

With heavier-than-normal snowfalls this month, county and municipal officials say they are under pressure to have salt supplies keep up with demand.

Loves Park Streets Department Manager Shannon Messinger said the city has used about 750 of the 4,000 tons of salt it typically buys for a winter. And because suppliers are being buried with requests for more, Messinger is uncertain when more salt will arrive.

“We are little low, but we have enough to handle the immediate future,” Messinger said. “Anything long-term might be a problem.”

Glut of snow puts big dent in salt supplies - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star
This pic is not snow it is the salt store!

A large pile of salt at the Rockford Public Works yard in Rockford was getting whittled down by heavy use Saturday.

3 Strange things they’re putting in your Salt (and why)
The cheapest and most common form of iodine is (1) potassium iodide. Even though only a tiny amount (less than 1/10th of one percent) is added to salt, the compound will break up and the iodine will evaporate after a short while. So, chemists found a solution - adding (2) glucose (sugar) to the mixture to stabilize things. So salt has sugar in it? Yes, albeit a small percentage (again, less than 1/10th of one percent).

On top of that, (3) Calcium silicate is also added to table salt to help keep it from caking together. Salt grabs water from the air, and the water dissolves the salt. When the reaction is over, you end up with a lump of salt instead of the free-flowing grains that we like. The calcium silicate works because it absorbs water but does not dissolve.

and acomment
Salt is used in a ridiculous number of products (toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, spray deodorant, on and on), but any liquid soap product is (8% likely to list sodium chloride as an ingredient. Fascinating, eh??

mental_floss Blog » 3 Strange things they’re putting in your Salt (and why)