Poor quality water utilization for agricultural production: An environmental perspective

Abstract

Agriculture is the largest water user and consumes over 70% of the abstracted freshwater globally. The continuous increase in global population and simultaneous decrease in good quality water resources emphasize the need of using poor quality irrigation water for agricultural production. However, the injudicious use of poor quality irrigation water for crop production can be detrimental to the environment. Irrigation water quality has been considered as a serious environmental factor for the assessment of sustainable development during the last few decades. This paper highlights the need and advantages and disadvantages of long-term application of poor quality water on the soil and plant health. The overall environmental concerns of the approach are discussed in the paper which could be useful for all the stakeholders.