I have started wondering about table salt (sodium chloride) because that is what is added to a salt pool.
I have discovered that we taste only the sodium ion
But it’s not the sodium that is important for a salt pool. It is the chloride ion that is involved in the electrochemistry to generate hypochlorous acid (bleach). So when the pool companies say that you can’t taste the salt that might be true, but only at the beginning.
As the chloride ion is converted to hypochlorous acid and ultimately to chlorine gas, the chloride ions are removed from the water and have to be replaced. The way a pool company replaces them is to add more salt which also adds sodium ions. Over time the sodium ions, which have no place to go, will build up and the pool water will start tasting salty.