Determining water quality for irrigation in the Quequen Salado river basin, Argentina

Abstract

The Quequén Salado river basin is in the south west of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. This area plays a key role in the country´s economy because of the tremendous importance of its agricultural and farming activities. Though annual precipitation is as much as 800mm, its distribution during the year does not usually couincident with critical times for the crops, so complementary irrigation plays an important role during these periods. The main objetive of work carrently being undertaken is to determine the water quality of surface watercourses and some of the lakes in the Quequén Salado river basin, in order to evaluate the posibility of using then in complementary irrigation. Information on salinity (sodium absorption ratio, SAR) was gathered during the spring and the summer of 1998 and 1999. Subsequent to this, areas with similar water quality werw defined.