Innovations in Sodic Water Irrigation Management

Abstract

Irrigation water is one of the most critical and scarce resources for agricultural production in arid and semiarid regions. The lack of good water supplies for irrigated agriculture is now becoming a major issue that is forcing farmers to use low-quality waters. Due to limited surface water resources, good-quality underground aquifers are continuously getting depleted. Groundwaters in many arid and semiarid regions contain high concentration of soluble salts that can adversely affect crop production. The injudicious use of sodic waters also poses grave risks to soil health by deteriorating physical, chemical, and biological properties of soil. Development of salinity, sodicity, and toxicity problems not only reduces crop productivity but also limits choice of crops to be grown. It is therefore imperative that long-term irrigation development plans with sodic waters are carefully drawn and executed to sustain crop production with minimum deterioration of soil health. Options are now becoming available to judiciously use sodic waters. This has led to the replacement of too conservative water quality standards by site-specific guidelines where factors like soil texture, rainfall, and crop tolerance have been given due consideration. The rational use of these waters offers opportunities to address the current and future shortage of irrigation water. Some available innovations and practices for sustaining irrigation with sodic waters are discussed.