Amos Bick

Introduction:

Increasing demand for food, feed and fibre requires increasing efficiency of agricultural production systems and to overcome water shortage in arid and semi-arid regions. The alternative is the use of non-conventional water sources, including saline (brackish) waters, high-quality run-off water and treated wastewater. Reuse of brackish water, mainly for agricultural irrigation, simultaneously solves water shortage problems and allows for overcoming environmental pollution nuisances. Nonconventional water sources have to be treated properly to get rid of all the undesirable physical, chemical and biological contaminants that are able to: (i) cut down crop yield; (ii) damage crop quality; (iii) reduce the choice of crops; (iv) injure soil appropriateness; and (v) harm the irrigation tools. Brackish water treatment regarding irrigation purposes is important to the agricultural business, mainly in the Arava region of Israel.