Ion composition and qualitative indicators of water within the Chernozemelskaya water-irrigation system

Abstract

In Russia, the agro-industrial complex is a large consumer of water resources, which are used to supply water to rural settlements, food and processing industries, livestock complexes and poultry farms, irrigation of land, flooding of pastures and haylands, as well as for fishing, recreation and other purposes. To a large extent, the environmentally safe, cost-effective and socially oriented development of the region depends on the state and functioning of reclamation systems. The paper presents the results of long-term monitoring of the geochemical composition and water quality indicators of the Chernozemelskaya water-irrigation system (from 2002 to 2018) located on the territory of the Caspian lowland. Irrigation and drainage and surface waste of the system are found to have a level of mineralization ranging from 1.2 to 2.3 g/l with sulfate-chloride and chloride-sulfate, sodium chemism, while the medium activity is low and intermediate-mafic (pH=7.8-8.4). It is analyzed that the high level of Cl-, Na+, Mg2+ ions in irrigation water can cause salinization and alcalination of all types of soils.