AbstractFive salt water cooling towers recently constructed near Galveston Bay, Texas, have been shown to contribute to salt deposition in the surrounding area. Levels as high as 1,200 kg/ha per year of total salt were encountered within 100 m of the towers, but decreased in a logrithmic fashion with distance to <300 kg/ha per year at 434 m with only 16% attributable to the cooling towers. The remaining deposition was caused by natural sea spray which varies widely but averages about 250 kg/ha per year in the study area. Changes in composition of air‐borne salts with distance from the cooling towers were noted, primarily as a narrowing of the Na/Ca ratio. Salinity levels in the soil are in equilibrium with naturally deposited salts. Enhanced salt deposition levels due to the cooling towers initially caused only slight effects in the soils closest to the towers, but may eventually lead to both salinization and solonization in the surrounding vicinity.