The impact of irrigation on the quality of drainage water in a new irrigation district

Abstract

The water quality of two agricultural drainage systems was monitored over two irrigation seasons in order to determine the sustainability of a new area of irrigated land (the Algerri-Balager irrigation district) located in the northeast of Spain. The average electrical conductivity of the drainage water was around 4 dS·m-1, and the waters were enriched with boron, phosphorous and nitrate. Drainage represented 17% of total applied irrigation water (measured leached fraction) and is considered necessary to minimize the risk of soil salinization in semiarid environments. The most common ions in the drainage waters were magnesium, sulphate, and calcium and others related with dissolved soil minerals present in the area. The presence of Fe, Cu, Mn, Zn and pesticides was negligible. The information provided by this research was very useful for the irrigation district, and it’s transferable to other irrigation districts, as it could help to improve agricultural practices and be used to control the quality and quantity of irrigation drainage.

Keywords

• Impacto ambiental
• Agua de drenaje
• Calidad del agua
• Comunidades de regantes