An Analysis of the Salinity Status of Water Resources in Use in the Agricultural Sector

The salinity of irrigation water resources combined with improper irrigation and drainage management is considered one of the most important threats to the sustainability of the agricultural sector in irrigated lands of the country. According to an overall estimate, about half of the country's irrigated farms have salinity problems at different levels. Given that no up-to-date and accurate report on the salinity status of agricultural water resources of Iran has been prepared so far, this paper decided to do this with the help of the latest statistics and information available at a national scale. For this purpose, the quality (salinity) data of agricultural water resources related to Iran Water Resources Management Company and also the results of previous studies on the quality of surface and underground water resources were used. The results of data analysis, which was conducted on 44.5 billion cubic meters of groundwater used in the agricultural sector, show that the average electrical conductivity of these resources is around 2.0 dS.meter-1. of which, about 31% (equivalent to 13.8 bcm), as well as about 20% of the surface agricultural water resources (equivalent to around 3.6 to 4.4 bcm) have salinities higher than the average. Concludingly, the possible effects of salinity on crop yield have also been provided, as well as proper solutions to overcome the salinity problems of irrigated agriculture.