POST-DESIGN MONITORING OF THE IRRIGATION IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

Abstract

Approaches to conducting post-design monitoring of the impact of irrigation on soil condition are highlighted on the example of an individual agricultural farm of LLC "Granex-Cherkasy". The results of the implementation of the five-year post-design monitoring program under the conditions of irrigation by groundwater using sprinkling and drip methods proved the need to develop both unified general approaches to the formation of monitoring programs, as well as the mandatory consideration of the peculiarities of its management under different irrigation methods and hydrogeological-ameliorative conditions on the irrigation sites. As a basis for the development of a system of post-design monitoring of the impact of irrigation on the state of environmental components, it is proposed to use approaches to the organization and performance of local (on-site) monitoring of irrigated lands based on the requirements of current regulatory and methodological documents. The observation system, based on previous studies, included periodic determination of irrigation water quality indicators in storage ponds or in the places of watering and routine observations of soil conditions at permanent monitoring points (observation points), which are recommended to be taken as coordinate points of the previously conducted testing study (at the stage of the preparation of the environmental impact assessment report). The results of the post-design monitoring proved the ecological admissibility of the impact of irrigation within the farm with the groundwater of I and II quality classes (suitable and limitedly suitable according to individual quality indicators). Based on the results of monitoring, it was established that the soils under irrigation did not undergo significant classification changes in terms of deterioration for 5 years. The lack of manifestations of secondary (irrigation) salinization, sodification, and alkalinization of soils under the influence of irrigation indicates the environmental safety of the latter following the accepted standards for indicators of the degree of development of the specified soil degradation processes.