Reclaimation of Water-Logged and

Saline Soils for Agricultural Purposes

Dr. Md. Shibly Anwar
Associate Professor
CE, DUET, Gazipur
 Water-logging
When agriculture land productivity gets affected by the high
water table- Land is called water logged.
Impacts
 The root zone of the plants gets flooded with water, and
thus become ill-aerated. Ill aeration reduces crop yield,
( How read from book)
 The normal cultivation operations, such as tilling
(Harvesting), ploughing, etc. cannot be easily carried out
in wet soils.
 Certain water loving plants like grasses, weeds, etc. grow
profusely and luxuriantly in water-logged lands, thus
affecting and interfering with the growth of the crops.
 Water-logging also leads to salinity (How read from Book)
 Ill aeration

• The life of a plant, infact, depends upon the

nutrients like nitrates, and the form in which the
nitrates are consumed by the plants is produced by
the bacteria, under a process called nitrification.
• These bacteria need oxygen for their survival. The
supply of oxygen gets cut off when the land
becomes ill aerated, resulting in the death of these
bacteria, and fall in the production of plant's food
(i.e. nitrates) and consequent reduction in the plant
growth, which reduces the crop yield.
 Salinity

 Water table has risen up- if plant root within

capillary fringe- water continuously evaporated by
capillarity.
 Salt present in water also rise towards the surface-
deposit in the root zone- reduce the osmotic
activities- check plant growth.
 Such soil is called saline soil.
 Whenever there is water-logging, salinity is a must.
 Causes of Water-logging

 Over and Intensive Irrigation

 Seepage of Water from the Adjoining High Lands
 Seepage of Water through the Canals.
 Impervious Obstruction
 Inadequate Natural Drainage.
 Inadequate Surface Drainage
 Excessive Rains.
 Submergence due to Floods.
 Irregular or Flat Topography.
 Water-logging Control
 Lining of Canals and Water Courses
 Reducing the Intensity of Irrigation.
 By Introducing Crop-rotation.
 By Optimum Use of Water.
 By Providing Intercepting Drains
 By Provision of an Efficient Drainage System
 By Improving the Natural Drainage of the Area
 By Adopting Consumptive Use of Surface and Subsurface
Water.
This combined use of subsurface water (ground water) and
the surface water (canal water) in a judicious manner, as to
derive maximum benefits, called conjunctive use, ·. should
hence be adopted to control water-logging.
 Saline and Alkaline Land

• Agriculture Land contains certain mineral salts-

– Some provide plant food
– Some are injurious for plant- NaCO3 (Black Alkaline, Most
injurious), NaSO4, NaCl (less harmful)

• The soluble alkali salts also move up with water and get
deposited in the soil within the plant roots as well as on the
surface of the land. This phenomenon of salts coming up in
solution and forming a thin ( 5 to 7.5 cm) crust on the surface,
after the evaporation of water, is called effeorescence. Land
affected by effeorescence is called saline soil.
• Osmosis process takes place within the plant roots and
plant die due to lack of water.
 Alkaline soils: If the salt effeorescence continues for a
longer period, a base exchange reaction sets up, particularly
if the soil is clayey, thus sodiumising the clay, making it
impermeable and, therefore, ill-aerated and highly
unproductive. Such soils are called alkaline soils. The
reclamation of alkaline lands is more difficult.

Remedies
 Can be avoided if the water table is maintained sufficiently
(about 3m) below the roots, so that the capillary water is not
able to reach the root zone of the plant.
– Surface Drainage
– Sub-Surface Drainage
 Relative proportions of sodium ions
• Most of the soils contain Ca++ and Mg++ ions and small quantities of
Na+. The percentage of the Na+ is generally less than 5% of the
total exchangeable cations. If this percentage increases to about
10% to more, the aggregation of soil grains breaks down. The soil
becomes less permeable and of poorer tilth. It starts crusting
when dry and its pH increases towards that of an alkaline soil. High
sodium soils are, therefore, plastic, sticky when wet, and are prone
to form clods, and they crust on drying. The methods for
determining relative proportion of sodium ions to other cations
are:
• a)Sodium absorption ratio (SAR)

• b)Exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP)

• c)Sodium percentage (SP)

 Slaking and Dispersion
Slaking : Upon wetting, weak aggregates Dispersion: is swelling of clay particles.
collapse and break into smaller particles Dispersion causes micro-aggregates to
(micro- aggregate) . collapse and release clay.

Slaking & Dispersion: Clay

soil
High ESP
Rainwater ( Deionized water)

Only slaking Slaking and dispersion Only Dispersion

 Leaching

• The land is flooded with adequate depth of water, Salt get

dissolved in this water, which percolate down to join the
water table or drained away by surface and sub-surface
drains.

• High-salt resistant crops like fodder, berseem, bajra etc., are

now grown on this leached land for one or two seasons or till
the salinity is reduced to such an extent that an ordinary crop
like wheat, cotton, citrus garden crops, etc. can be grown.

• When sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) is present in the saline soil,

gypsum (CaSO4) is generally added to the soil before
leaching and thoroughly mixed with water. Na2CO3 reacts
with CaSO4 forming Na2S04, which can be leached out.
 LAND DRAINAGE
(1) Surface drainage,
(2) Sub-surface drainage, called Tile-
drainage or Underground drainage.

Fig. Random field-drain (shallow

surface drain)
Surface Inlet
Blind inlet or French drain.
Bedding
Sub-surface Drainage or Tile Drainage
• If no impervious layer occurs below the farm land
and the water table is low(lower than about 3m from
the ground), internal soil drainage may be sufficient
and no tile drains needed.

• Advantages of Tile Drains (read from Book)

 Component of Tile drain
1. Envelope Filters.

Cross-section of a tile drain in pervious soils

2. Outlets for Tile Drains or Closed Drains
3. Drawdown Curve or Movement of Water into the
Tile Drains
4. Depth and Spacing of the Tile Drains
5. Drainage Coefficient (D.C.)
• The rate at which the water is removed by a drain is called
the drainage coefficient. It is expressed- as the depth of
water in cm or metres, to be removed in 24 hours from the
drainage area.
Examples: A tile drainage system draining 12 hectares, flows
at a design capacity for two days, following a storm. If the
system is designed using a D. C. of 1.25 cm, how many cubic
metres of water will be removed during this period?
6. Drainage Area
7. Size of the Tile Drains
• Example: Determine the size of a tile at the outlet of a 6
hectare drainage system, if the D.C. is 1 cm and the tile
grade is 0.3%. Assume the rugosity coefficient for the tile
drain material as 0.011
• Solution. 1 cm D.C. means that 1 cm of water from an area
of 6 hectares is entering the tiles per day.
8. Materials of Tile Drains-Good clay or concrete
pipes

9. Layout of Tile Drains- Different types of layout

( read from book)