question: Does the constant salting of our roads in the more frigid locales lead to a hardening of the local water?
comment: Not usually. Road salt is mostly sodium chloride, which does not contribute to hard water. However, Colder temperatures require blends that include magnesium, potassium and calcium chloride compounds. These can cause hard water, particularly magnesium and calcium salts. Typically they are so diluted by the time they enter the water system that no appreciable change *in 'hardness'* is detectable. That said, salts of any kind can lead to plant die off in areas next to roads and sidewalks. Interestingly, one of the hard water calcium compounds - gypsum, another name for calcium sulfate - will actually mitigate this effect. Edit: added clarification
passages: In highway de-icing, salt has been associated with corrosion of bridge decks, motor vehicles, reinforcement bar and wire, and unprotected steel structures used in road construction. Surface runoff, vehicle spraying, and windblown actions also affect soil, roadside vegetation, and local surface water and groundwater supplies. Although evidence of environmental loading of salt has been found during peak usage, the spring rains and thaws usually dilute the concentrations of sodium in the area where salt was applied. A 2009 study found that approximately 70% of the road salt being applied in the Minneapolis-St Paul metro area is retained in the local watershed.
   BULLET::::- King St Bridge, demolished and replaced in 2011 (crossing the Patawalonga River, Glenelg North, South Australia).
  
  BULLET::::- Manly Surf Pavilion, Manly, Australia (1939–1981).
  
  BULLET::::- The MCG's old Southern Stand, demolished in 1990 and replaced with the Great Southern Stand which was completed in 1992
  
  BULLET::::- Westpoint Blacktown car park
  
  Section::::Known affected structures.:Belgium.
  
  BULLET::::- Many bridges and civil engineering works of motorways because the improper use of highly reactive Tournaisian siliceous limestone during the years 1960 - 1970 when most of the motorways were constructed in Belgium. ASR damages started to be recognised only in the 1980s.
   Other municipalities see this as a great concern, such as the Kapiti Coast District, New Zealand where, "groundwater ponding is a chronic problem, that results in damp housing and waterlogged sections. The damage that it causes is less apparent than the damaging events associated with floods, but the duration of groundwater ponding, which can last for several months, makes it a serious issue for those affected".
  
  Ponding that forms on paved surfaces, like streets or parking lots that are not properly pitched, will cause issues such as deep puddles and crocodile cracking.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Horton overland flow
   In rural areas the erosion source is typically soil degradation due to intensive or inadequate agricultural practices, leading to soil erosion, especially in fine-grained soils such as loess. The result will be an increased amount of silt and clay in the water bodies that drain the area. In urban areas the erosion source is typically construction activities, since this involves clearing the original land-covering vegetation and temporarily creating something akin to an urban desert from which fines are easily washed out during rainstorms.
   Dryland salinity is broadly the result of three processes: Groundwater recharge, Groundwater movement and Groundwater discharge. (Environment.nsw.gov.au, 2013)
   On the other hand, the reduction of water in streams, rivers, water bodies and the like is likely to result in an increase of salt concentration in these water bodies. This will be particularly evident in groundwater flow systems of different catchments. Austin "et al." of CSIRO have predicted that water in the Murrumbidgee will drop by up to approximately 48% by 2070 which will result in salt yields on the surface of the land falling by approximately 30%, however the stream salinity concentrations are predicted to increase by 11%.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Conservation in Australia
  
  BULLET::::- Fauna of Australia
   Bedload erosion can also be a major factor in bedrock erosion. It is caused by saltating grains or traction.
   In some areas of the world, including Berlin, Germany, dropping salt is prohibited altogether except on the highest-risk roads; plain sand without any melting agents is spread instead. While this may protect the environment, it is more labour-intensive, as more gritting runs are needed; because the sand is insoluble, it tends to accumulate at the sides of the road, making it more difficult for buses to pull in at bus stops.
   Heat can also lead to the internal flow of rock salt. When the burial depth of rock salt is over 2.9 km at a thermal gradient of 30 °C/km with viscosity below 10 Pa.s, a flow of rock salt by thermal conduction occurs. However thermal conduction is not the dominant mechanism of salt flow in a sedimentary basin, which is completely different from the flow of magma. Salt flows at the surface if it is sufficiently wet, for instance, the flow of salt glaciers, which is an expose structure formed when a salt diapir pierce through its overburden. 
   Slow periglacial solifluction is classified into four types:
  
  BULLET::::- Ice creep
  
  BULLET::::- Frost creep
  
  BULLET::::- Gelifluction
  
  BULLET::::- Plug-like flow
  
  Slow solifluction acts much slower than some geochemical fluxes or than other erosion processes. The relatively low rates at which solifluction operates contrast with its occurrence over wide mountain areas and periglaciated lowlands. Since solifluction is associated with humidity and cold climates it can be used to infer past climates.
  
  Section::::Deposits.
   Waste streams rich in hardness ions as from de-ionisation processes can readily lose the hardness ions in a buildup of precipitated calcium and magnesium salts. This precipitation process can cause severe "furring" of pipes and can, in extreme cases, cause the blockage of disposal pipes. A 1-metre diameter industrial marine discharge pipe serving a major chemicals complex was blocked by such salts in the 1970s. Treatment is by concentration of de-ionisation waste waters and disposal to landfill or by careful pH management of the released wastewater.
  
  Section::::Treatment of industrial wastewater.:Removal of toxic materials.
   BULLET::::- In higher rainfall areas, the increased camber required to drain water, and open drainage ditches at the sides of the road, often cause vehicles with a high centre of gravity, such as trucks and off-road vehicles, to overturn if they do not keep close to the crown of the road
  
  BULLET::::- Excess dust permeates door-opening rubber moulding breaking the seal
  
  BULLET::::- Lost binder in the form of road dust, when mixed with rain, will wear away the painted surfaces of vehicles
   Section::::Geography.:Landform and salinity.
  
  Wagga Wagga is upstream from the Riverina plain in the mid-catchment range of the Murrumbidgee River in an alluvial valley confined by low bedrock hills. Much of Wagga Wagga is on heavy clay soils in a large drainage basin with a small catchment discharge point. Groundwater therefore cannot leave easily, leading to Wagga Wagga having a problem with waterlogged soil and soil salination. Urban salination in Wagga Wagga is now the subject of a large multi-pronged approach to prevent further salination and reclaim salt-affected areas.
  
  Section::::Geography.:City and suburbs.
   Section::::Adlingfleet Drainage.:Current state.
   Section::::Hydrology.:De-icing chemicals.
  
  The chemicals applied to roads along with grit for de-icing are primarily Salt and calcium chloride. Other chemicals such as urea are also used. These chemicals leave the road surface either in water runoff or in water spray. Apart from heavy metal bioaccumulation in adjacent plants, vegetation can be damaged by salt as far as from the road. Studies have found negative effects on wood frog population dynamics when tadpoles were raised in presence of most de-icing chemicals, such as decreased tadpole survival rates and modified sex ratios at maturity.
   Information from the British Drinking Water Inspectorate shows that drinking water in England is generally considered to be 'very hard', with most areas of England, particularly east of a line between the Severn and Tees estuaries, exhibiting above 200 ppm for the calcium carbonate equivalent. Water in London, for example, is mostly obtained from the River Thames and River Lea both of which derive significant proportion of their dry weather flow from springs in limestone and chalk aquifers. Wales, Devon, Cornwall and parts of North-West England are softer water areas, and range from 0 to 200 ppm. In the brewing industry in England and Wales, water is often deliberately hardened with gypsum in the process of Burtonisation.
   Saltating is where the grains are lifted up by the water and then tossed back down. Most of the time this is with gravels and if the stream power is big enough pebbles. However the clays and silts have too much cohesion to be transported by this method. When the particles come into contact with the bedrock they slowly wear away at its surface. They can gradually form micro-cracks or extend already existing cracks. The physics behind this erosional process states: the mass of the rock worn away by the incoming particle is directly proportional to the kinetic energy of that incoming particle.
   The surface condition factor is when banking by flood spreading can change the soil surfaces physical conditions. Infiltrations limits can be caused by quality and depth of water that could lead to the destruction of aggregates, the formation of physical crusts, and compaction. To determine soil condition two factors were examined: soil erosion factor and sodium absorption ratio (SAR).
   Plastic flow of salt glaciers during rainy seasons and individual storm events and shrinkage after drying of the glacier were observed in Jashak salt dome (also known as Dashti salt dome or Kuh-e-Namak), Iran, suggesting seasonal movements in salt glaciers in response to weather condition. However, another study in the Kuqa fold-thrust belt tried to test the seasonal responsiveness of glacier movement regarding rainfall, but did not observe the correlation between salt deformation and precipitation, and stated their result may be attributed to limited satellite and ground observation data.
   Saltation (geology)
  
  In geology, saltation (from Latin "saltus", "leap") is a specific type of particle transport by fluids such as wind or water. It occurs when loose materials are removed from a bed and carried by the fluid, before being transported back to the surface. Examples include pebble transport by rivers, sand drift over desert surfaces, soil blowing over fields, and snow drift over smooth surfaces such as those in the Arctic or Canadian Prairies.
  
  Section::::Process.
   Triassic Clays are not so abundant but the clays of the Farmville Basin show some plasticity. Certain ones like those tested from Farmville would do for the manufacture of hollow brick. The clay was a good red color at the surface but had too much mica a few feet down. Some clays in the basin make bricks as hard as steel. Some brick making was done in the basin the 1870s.
   In desert areas, or areas with impoverished or dusty soils, rain-bearing winds can pick up sand and dust and this can be deposited elsewhere in precipitation and causing the freshwater flow to be measurably contaminated both by insoluble solids but also by the soluble components of those soils. Significant quantities of iron may be transported in this way including the well-documented transfer of iron-rich rainfall falling in Brazil derived from sand-storms in the Sahara in north Africa.
  
  Section::::Water distribution.
   The River Trent, which runs through the town, had been used for cargo-carrying vessels since Roman times but further inland smaller boats could only be used. Seasonal fluctuations in water depth proved insurmountable, although cargo could be carried from the sea as far south as Wilden Ferry (southeast of Derby), where the River Derwent joins the Trent and increases the quantity of water, then onwards by road. Prior to tarmac roads, journeys overland by roads were slow and delicate wares were prone to breakages over the rough terrain.
   Gley soils may be sticky and hard to work, especially where the gleying is caused by surface water held up on a slowly permeable layer. However, some ground-water gley soils have permeable lower horizons, including, for example, some sands in hollows within sand dune systems (known as slacks), and in some alluvial situations.
   Water quality in the subbasin is generally fair with regard to sodium bicarbonate and magnesium bicarbonate, However, the trend in adverse water quality due to total dissolved solids indicates unpotable conditions may exist as early as 2020 due to overpopulation of the Livermore-Amador Valley by humans and associated discharge of salts to the groundwater.
  
  Section::::Geology.
  
presuppositions: Road salt contains ingredients that cause hard water. 
corrections: Road salts with magnesium and calcium salts can cause hard water, but most road salt is sodium chloride which does not contribute to hard water.
raw_presuppositions: Road salt contains ingredients that cause hard water.  Salting roads can harden local water.
raw_corrections: Road salts with magnesium and calcium salts can cause hard water, but most road salt is sodium chloride which does not contribute to hard water. Road salt is mostly sodium chloride, which does not contribute to hard water.