Optimization of a Filter Medium Suitable for Direct Irrigation with Seawater through a Water Table

Abstract— The method that humanity has adopted to moisturize and thus bring to life the plants, imitating the model that was most visible, is rain. However, the great secret of irrigation lies in the land, in the water table and aquifers that treasure and manage water, sending away every drop of rain and spreading water through the underground basins of rivers, indirectly watering from the mountain to the Sea. The key is in the different circulation rates of groundwater because of the nature of the substrates. However, agriculture has adopted irrigation from above as we know it and has focused especially on drainage capacity. From this point of view, saline water is not beneficial for irrigated agriculture, but it may be the only source of irrigation water in large arid regions, especially in developing countries, where extreme freshwater scarcity and rapid population growth require more water.

When it is raised the possibility of watering with seawater without desalination, always through capillary systems, it is essential to take into account the different soil strata, the distance to the water table, the composition of the seawater, the capacity soil chemical reactions to salts, etc. Modification of any of these parameters may produce salinization effects, moisture loss or desertification among others.