WATER-LOGGING AN ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE OF MIND EXTENSION MILLENIUM EDUCATION (M.EM.

E)

The assignment that follows has been written by, and is entirely the work of, Georgios-Ilias Papathanasiou.

Water logging generally occurs in the lower levels of lands through the rise of groundwater that might appear
closely to the land soil surface in cases where the water table rises above the surface of earth surface, yet we can
identify that roots cannot respire due to excess water in the soil profile.

By having water table raised in the soil, it becomes waterlogged, whereas evident air spaces in the soil surface
are pumped with filled water and plant roots lack in oxygen levels results in plant growth and environmental
disaster.

Many worldwide topographical spaces where drained soil surface cannot ingress successfully more than 10%
statistically.(See Figure 1).

Figure 1

Although fertilization cannot increase yields on the poorly drained sites, there are areas that have been affected
by water logging due to high rainfall and heavy clay soils.

Therefore, water logging occurs when excessive irrigation takes place and soil due to heavy temperatures drains.
What is more, the compaction issue of soil as the water enters the upper layer of soil and immediately is impeded
by water resistant layers, which can be either caused manually or with the use of modern agricultural machinery.

The impacts are numerous to state such as fall productivity, suffocation and depletion of plants, pasture loss, land
erosion and fungal environmental disease , nitrogen loss as soil is washed away
(See Figure 2).
 Solving water logging is not as simple as it may seem. Nowadays, it is up to farmers to fathom the essence of a
healthy environment and take initiation by monitoring and managing their irrigations accurately and properly with
normal criteria and respect to our environment. Stop over watering soil surfaces and install sub surface moles and
dry pipe drainage lines with wide spaced furrows, to avoid intensive drainage and finally manage soil and improve
soil structure as it is a potential problem.
Farmers need to manage and plan their irrigations properly, so that they do not over water the soil. Manage soil to
improve structure and install surface or sub-surface mole or pipe drains.

(Words 343)

REFERENCES

Bibliography:
1)http://oregonstate.edu/~muirp/waterlog.htm

2)http://www.netc.net.au/enviro/fguide/indwlogging.html

3)http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2005/06/23/ag_news/production_news/prod06.prt