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Article: Salvaging saline water and soils: a projects in California's Central Valley harnesses salt-laden drainage water to grow forage and reclaim poor soils.
- Article from:
- Agricultural Research
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 U.S. Government Printing Office. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Nestled in the hills of California's San Joaquin Valley, a tranquil pond invites flocks of ruddy ducks, pintails, and shovelers to feed at its shores. The water's crawling with the larvae of brine flies and midges these waterfowl love.
But this pond doesn't constitute the ideal refuge. White, encrusted salts can be seen at its edges, evidence that its waters are as saline as the ocean. The body of water--known as an evaporation pond--is actually a human-built basin made for trapping drainage waters that have no other place to go in the tightly managed agricultural valley.
With an annual rainfall of about 5 inches, this part of California's Central ...