Salinisation

Salinisation could arise from irrigation with improper drainage, intrusion of salt water from the sea or from saline fossil sources. It has direct negative effects on soil biology and crop productivity.

The irrigation of the Carpathian Basin, for example, has caused salinisation in more than 20 percent of the region.

Since the introduction of a huge irrigation system in Romania more than 30 years ago, about 200,000 hectares have been salinised, which represents 6 percent of the total irrigated land.

Salinisation is reversible, but the reclamation of saline soils is expensive.