Irrigation water quality as indicator of sustainable rural development

• Main Author: Trajković Slaviša
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Architecture, Urban & Spatial Planning of Serbia 2004-01-01
• Series: Spatium
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/1450-569X/2004/1450-569X0411106T.pdf

The sustainable rural development more and more depends on the efficient usage of water resources. Most often, at least in one part of the year, the rain is not sufficient for plant growth and rain plant production significantly depends on the yearly precipitation variation. The increase and stability of the agricultural production is possible in the irrigation conditions. The most part (around 70%) of the global water resources is used for food production. Irrigation water quality indicator is used to show if the available water resources have the required quality for application in agriculture. Irrigation is characterised by the complex water-plant-soil relationship, and in that eco-system the man as the end user of the irrigated fields occupies a very important place. That explains the difficulties in producing one universal classification of irrigation water quality. The paper analyses numerous water quality classifications from the aspect of the applicability on the quantifying of this indicator. The adopted classification should possess understandable, qualified and internationally comparable indicator. Thus, local classifications (Neigebauer, Miljkovic) cannot be used for this indicator. United Nation Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and US Salinity Laboratory (USSL) classifications are used for the evaluation of the irrigation water quality throughout the world. FAO classification gives the complex picture of the usability of the irrigation water from the point of its influence on the soil and the plants. However, the scope of the analyses is not often suited to the needs of that classification, which makes it difficult to apply. The conclusion is that the USSL (US Salinity Laboratory) classification is best suited to this range of chemical water analyses. The evaluation of the irrigation water quality indicator in the Juzna Morava river basin, upstream from the Toplica river estuary is given in this paper. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the irrigation isn’t limitation for sustainable rural development.