Published by Bhagya Rupasinghe
Hello I am from Sri Lanka and I want to use tubewell drainage technology for controlling the salinity in agriculture area but there are certain issues with this technology. Reviews of this system are not good. Please suggest me shall we use this system or there is other option for this technique for controlling salinity?
Hi; I think the comments about aquifer recharge may be worth considering. I know that this is used in certain Caribbean Islands. I am not sure of the particulars of your situation, but if there is salt water intrusion, I believe this could be related to excessive GW withdrawal. There may be other much more limited options such as use of crops less sensitive to salinity? Jim
Published by Jim Harmar, Shelby Environment Services Ltd. - Senior Partner
Dear, Just to share you the information, I have seen one costal town in Belgium having saline sea water intrusion caused by over pumping of Ground water however they have dealt with the situation by recharging the ground water with conventionally treated waste water
Published by kulule Mekonnen
Hello Bhagya - Not sure exactly what tubewell drainage is, but here are some references you may want to read up on: http://www.changemagazine.nl/deltatimes/combating_salinity and this article (not sure you have access) http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/science/article/pii/S1470160X11001567 entitled: Methodology to assess sustainable management of water resources in coastal lagoons with agricultural uses: An application to the Albufera lagoon of Valencia (Eastern Spain)
Published by Pacia Diaz, University of South Florida - Doctoral Candidate for the degree of Environmental Engineering
Emery Coppola Jr., Ph.D., President NOAH LLC
Dear Bhagya,
I think the issue is not technology but whether you are pumping in a coastal area, where saltwater intrusion occurs due to over-pumping? If so, it is not an issue of the "technology" - that is, whether one uses a tube well versus an irrigation well, etc. It is more an issue of your total groundwater withdrawals upsetting the natural equilibrium, whereby you start to deplete groundwater storage, which results in saltwater intrusion and/or upconing from changes in the natural groundwater flow system.
Thus, what you really need to do is optimize your regional groundwater pumping. Or, if you have a single well, and upconing is the issue, install the well relatively shallow and as far about the freshwater-saltwater interface. But over time, as regional pumping progresses, your well could become salinated with the changing salinity front.
View my website www.noahlc.com for a case study on saltwater upconing in a coastal area - Provincetown (under Case Studies).
Sincerely,
Emery
Published by Emery Coppola Jr, NOAH LLC - President