Irrigation and Salinity: a Perspective Review of the Salinity Hazards of Irrigation Development in the Arid Zone

Irrigation development in the arid zone almost alwayshas to deal with not only secondarysalinity but also with primary and fossilsalinity. In many cases, irrigationdevelopment brings about large scalechanges in the local geohydrological regimewhich often result in mobilization of saltsstored in the underlying substrata. Thisprimary and fossil salt mobilization hasbeen found to be one of the principalcauses of rivers salinization in irrigatedbasins in the arid zone. The paperhighlights this hitherto insufficientlyrecognized salinity hazard and discussesrelated control measures and strategies.