Salt n Shake

[jaybee]

Not really had any significant snow yet but if it comes the grit lorries will be up and down the country spreading salt . Vast amounts of this will end up being washed into our rivers and lochs, so does anybody know what effect this will have on the ecology of our waterways? Does salt have a detrimental effect to insect life and general habitat or does nature compensate? 
It would be interesting to see if there was any detrimental correlation to fish stocks following particularly heavy snow falls and increased salt spreading.

Jim

[Bobfly]

The DoT have code of practice for salt usage. One effect is on the shallow root systems of roadside beech trees and hedges which seem a bit vulnerable so do not put salt heaps and grit bins on verges near to beech trees. Simple spreading does not seem to have an adverse effect on beech and I have no idea what effects on water courses there might be but guess they will be quite slight. The effects on motor cars is a bit different !!