This is the compendium of SALINITY-L digests for April 1996.
It was prepared from the daily digest mailings. Some digests
may be missing, because occasional mailings are lost en route.
Contents: Salinity in wetlands (tim_mayer@mail.fws.gov) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Thu, 04 Apr 96 14:21:24 MST From: tim_mayer@mail.fws.gov Subject: Salinity in wetlands Hello, My name is Tim Mayer and I am new to this list. I work as a hydrologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, OR. I'm hoping someone on this list can help me with a problem that we're working on in our office. Many of our wildlife refuges are wetlands. At several of these wetlands, we need to quantify the amount of water needed to keep them healthy and functioning properly. We are using a water budget to do this. The main consumptive use of water in the wetlands is evapotranspiration, which we are attempting to model. But we also feel that we should include some portion of the water budget to maintain water quality. The question is how to quantify the amount of water needed for this purpose. I have an older study (1970) from wetlands adjacent to Salt Lake in N. Utah that uses a salt balance along with a water balance to quantify water quality requirements. I think this is equivalent to the leaching requirement for irrigation. Of course, in Salt Lake, salinity is going to be a major concern. Our wetlands are not that saline. This is the only study that I have found that actually addresses and quantifies water quality requirements for wetlands. It is the approach we are tentatively using too. My questions are: 1) Is there any information on the salt tolerance of wetland plants? (the only information I have seen, for cattail and bulrush, suggests that a marsh water EC of < 3 mmhos/cm is best - I think this is the general recommendation for agricultural crops too, correct?). 2) Is there better approach for quantifying water quality requirements in wetlands? My apologies if this has already been discussed on this list. Thanks, Tim Mayer <------------------------------>
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Contents: Re: Salinity in wetlands ("Marshall J. English" .<.englishm@ccmail.orst.edu.>.) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Fri, 05 Apr 96 07:44:40 PST From: "Marshall J. English" .<.englishm@ccmail.orst.edu.>. Subject: Re: Salinity in wetlands Tim, Why dont you make a trip to Corvallis and visit with the wetlands people and the water quality and irrigation people in the Bioresource Engineering Dept. I dont know if we can answer all your questions but may be able to help on a few items. But it would be interesting for both you and us to be in touch. Marshall English Bioresource Engineering 541-737-6308 <------------------------------>
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Contents: Shooter Message (ypachepsky@asrr.arsusda.gov) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Mon, 8 Apr 96 08:06:35 PDT From: ypachepsky@asrr.arsusda.gov Subject: Shooter Message International symposium on Sustainable Management of Salt Affected Soils in the arid Ecosystems. Cairo, Egypt 22-27 September 1997 Scientific program 1. Land capability classification in view of their reclamation and management 2. The effect on soil chemical and physical properties with relation to management 3. Fertility management 4. Management practices with the use of saline water for irrigation 5. Water quality and methods of predicting and prreventing the hazard of salinity Soil drainage 7. Cropping systems and the use of lallophytes and other salt-tolerant plant Pre- and post-symposium field excursions and tours are planned The following preliminary reply card has to be sent in April: Name Title Postal address Country Fax Hope to participate sypmosium yes no Interested to present a paper yes no Provisional title if yes Contact Prof. Dr. A.M.Elgala, Chairman of the Organizing Comittee Dept of Soil Science Faculty of Agriculture Ain Shams University, P.O. Box 68 Hadayek Shobra, 11241, Cairo, Egypt Fax 202 221 44 61 Phone 202 221 04 59 ------------------------------------- Name: yakov pachepsky E-mail: ypachepsky@asrr.arsusda.gov (yakov pachepsky) USDA:ARS:BA:NRI:RMSL Bldg 007 Rm 008 BARC-WEST Beltsville, MD 20705 Tel 301-504-74-68 Fax 301-504-58-23 ------------------------------------- <------------------------------>
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Contents: Re: Shooter Message ("Marshall J. English" .<.englishm@ccmail.orst.edu.>.) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Mon, 08 Apr 96 07:16:35 PST From: "Marshall J. English" .<.englishm@ccmail.orst.edu.>. Subject: Re: Shooter Message Is this symposium in conjunction with the ICID Congress? Marshall English <------------------------------>
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Contents: salinity in wetlands (tim_mayer@mail.fws.gov) Introduction (mlw@aqua.civag.unimelb.EDU.AU (Mark Wood)) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Tue, 09 Apr 96 13:44:46 MST From: tim_mayer@mail.fws.gov Subject: salinity in wetlands Mike, Thanks for the suggestions for contacts. The study I mentioned is entitled: "Water Requirements for Waterfowl Marshlands in Northern Utah" J.E. Christiansen and J.B. Low, Publication No. 69-12, Utah Division of Fish and Game, 1970. They have a section on salt tolerance of marsh plants, specifically cattail (Typha), hardstem and alkali bulrush (Scirpus), and sago pondweed (Potamogeton). These are some of the species we're interested in. If you have any other information on these plant species, I would appreciate hearing about it. The impression I have from the literature is that the salt tolerance of wetland plants varies with growth stage. Many of the plants can persist in saline conditions but growth and reproduction are adversely affected. (tuber growth of Sago pondweed seems to be an exception to this generalization). Estimates of the maximum tolerable salinity of wetland plants range from 2 to 4 mmhos/cm. Frequently, we're using this information to quantify water requirements for water rights and my feeling is our goal should be to optimize wetland health and productivity. Therefore, I lean toward using criteria at the lower end of the range. Tim <------------------------------>
Date: Wed, 10 Apr 1996 13:41:50 +1100 From: mlw@aqua.civag.unimelb.EDU.AU (Mark Wood) Subject: Introduction Hi all, Just sending out a brief introduction so that you know who I am and, in general, what I am up to. My name is Mark Wood and I am a civil engineer and am currently involved in a research project which is looking at on-farm water use practices in South Eastern Australia. I work within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Melbourne. The main practical aim of the above project is to develop a pc based program that advises farmers when they should be applying irrigations. We currently have five field sites trialling the system which includes soil moisture sensors in the field which can be accessed remotely. I am working with flood irrigated border checked pastures used as feed for dairy stock. In general farmers have little control on the volumes of water applied to irrigation bays and so initially we are targeting irrigation timing. Another restriction on the program is that water orders must be placed 4 days in advance of use, which means we are also developing a forecasting tool to estimate plant water use 4 days in advance. It is based on short range forecasts from the Bureau of Meterology. How does all this relate to salinity? Much of the region in which I work has large scale salinity problems. Particularly in areas around Kerang in Northern Victoria a lot of previously productive land is now lost to salinity. The problem in these irrigated areas has resulted from the clearing of deep rooted native vegetation and the introduction of irrigation both contributing to a rise in the regions watertables. I see the relevance of this project to salinity as increasing the awareness of the dariy farming community (and more generally the wider irrigation community) to new technology which can aid irrigation decision making and reduce wasteful accessions to the water tables. NOTE: of course there are other implications of the technology. There is however much more going on in the region that is looking at tackling both dryland and irrigation salinity. In most salt affected regions across the state catchment based salinity action plans have been implemented. In irrigated areas these plans are generally approaching the salinity problem by intiating: 1. whole farms plans (including laser grading and reuse systems) 2. public and private groundwater pumping 3. subsurface drainage 4. surface drainage 5. environmental programs (including the protection and creation of high value wetlands and tree planting programs) Enough for now, but I look forward to contributing in the future. Mark PS. Some of this will be repeated on the Irrigation-L list ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Mark Wood Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Melbourne Parkville, Victoria 3052 Australia Email: mlw@civag.unimelb.edu.au Phone: (03) 9344 6638 Fax: (03) 9344 6215 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ <------------------------------>
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Contents: models based on structural stability (Giuseppina Crescimanno .<.00261aaa@mbox.it.net.>.) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 1996 09:17:49 +0200 (MET DST) From: Giuseppina Crescimanno .<.00261aaa@mbox.it.net.>. Subject: models based on structural stability To the recipients of the salinity list: I am looking for agricultural models which contain some index of soil structural stability as input. thank you in advance, Giuseppina Crescimanno <------------------------------>
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Contents: WHAT ARE MICROVAL/g? (casaix@ci.uminho.pt) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 1996 12:26:08 -0700 From: casaix@ci.uminho.pt Subject: WHAT ARE MICROVAL/g? Hello to you all, The other day I found a paper in which the ionic concentration were expressed in microval/g. Does anybody knows this unit and its relation to other concentration units? Regards Carlos Alves Portugal <------------------------------>
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Contents: Introdution (btoma@mail.techplus.com (Bob Toma)) <---------------------------------------------------------------------->
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 08:33:41 -0500 From: btoma@mail.techplus.com (Bob Toma) Subject: Introdution My name is Bob Toma. I work at the "Manitoba Crop Diversification Centre" in Carberry Manitoba, Canada. The Centre focuses on looking at other crops that can be grown in the province other than the Grains. The Centre sits on a very large aquifer so you have three irrigation pivots and two laterals. The main crop that is grown in the area is potatoes and so looking for other crops along with different markets creates our biggest challenge. The biggest reason why I joined this list is because of are other challenge. The Town of Carberry has a population of about 1600 people and disposes of it's effluent from there lagoons by irrigating forage land. Which for all intensive purposes is working well except they are concerned with the build up of clorides in the soil due to water softners. So as well as looking for salt tolerant crops we are also looking for something that will take up the salt. I look forward to all your comments. Bob Toma Tech Ag. Manitoba Crop Diversification Centre Manitoba,Canada <------------------------------>
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