The Effect of Sprinkler and Surface Irrigation with Treated Wastewater on Soil Salinity

World population growth is reaching the point where available freshwater is insufficient for the basic needs of mankind. This is becoming particularly acute in arid and semi-arid regions of the world likes Iran. Hence, there is a growing need to utilize low quality water where freshwater is in scarce. In the respect, urban wastewater is a promising resource, but there are many concerns about the environmental and health aspects of using such water. This is particularly the case where wastewater effluent is used but proper monitoring is not carried out. There is a need for suitable guidelines for water users on the different aspects of using non-conventional water resources safely.One-year experiment including wastewater and groundwater with two irrigation systems (Sprinkler and surface) and three crops (sugar beet, corn and sunflower) was conducted in Borkhar region in Isfahan province in central Iran. Soil samples in different depths of 0-20, 20-40, 40-80 and 80-120 cm were collected to determine the soil electric conductivity (EC) in there stages (beginning, middle and end of growing season).The results indicated, in the wastewater treatment, the soil EC decreased significantly compared with the groundwater treatment. Sprinkler irrigation system had a significant effect on the soil EC, compared with the surface irrigation system. This could be related to the less production of suspended materials in the sprinkler system and therefore less possibility of the soil porosity.