Safely using saline water for irrigation

摘要

Water quality and quantity issues are extremely important concepts in crop plant production. The contamination of water supplied by irrigation poses health risks in many places and drastically increases the costs of treating waters for domestic and industrial uses. In many areas, salts, fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are contaminating surface and ground waters. Irrigation water should be tested periodically to determine its quality. Irrigation water is a major source of soluble salts to thegrowing medium. Sometimes, water may contain harmful elements or biological organisms, which require corrective procedures. The quality of irrigation water is dependent on total salt content, the nature of salts present in solution and the proportion ofsodium to calcium, magnesium, bicarbonates and other cations.