The policies of russia, the aggressor state, are turning the temporarily occupied Crimea into a water-scarce region.This is stated in a report by the Defense

Freshwater contains natural salts and minerals. However, dramatic increases in salt concentrations are occurring in freshwaters globally due to human activities including road salt application, water softening, mining and oil production, commercial and industrial processes, weathering of concrete, sea level rise, and fertilizer application. EPA scientists are studying the effects of increasing salinity on environmental health and water quality. Over the last several decades, EPA scientists and collaborators have measured increases in salt concentration in several rivers around urban areas (Figure 1). Their results show that increasing freshwater salinization is a wide-spread problem in the US and globally. Why is it a problem? Too much salt in freshwater can harm aquatic life. Many different types of salts contribute to freshwater salinization including sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Salts can pollute drinking water sources and damage infrastructure. But there's more to the problem than that; increased salt concentrations lead to a phenomenon called freshwater salinization syndrome (FSS). This syndrome is due to direct and indirect effects of salts that cause other pollutants in soil, groundwater, surface water, and water pipes to become more concentrated and mobile (Cooper et al. 2014). One example of these effects is that salts can increase...

Water scarcity and soil salinization are two fundamental constraints confronting agriculture in arid regions. Intertwined as both cause and effect, they constitute a thorny “water-salt paradox” that is particularly pronounced in the Tarim River Basin of Xinjiang, a quintessential arid inland river basin. In this region, the average annual precipitation is less than 100 mm, whereas the annual potential evaporation exceeds 2500 mm. Driven by this intense atmospheric demand, soil salts continuously migrate upward and accumulate in the topsoil, while the severely limited water resources make it exceptionally difficult to flush these salts out of the root zone through adequate leaching. The implementation of drip irrigation technology has mitigated this dilemma to a considerable extent1. Since its large-scale introduction to Xinjiang in the 1990s, the total drip-irrigated area across the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has surpassed 70 million mu (approximately 4.67 million hectares) as of 20242, cementing its status as a hallmark technology for modern agricultural development in arid areas. By utilizing plastic mulch to suppress evaporation and applying water precisely through localized wetting, drip irrigation establishes a relatively low-salinity environment within the crop root zone, thereby providing favorable water and salt conditions for crop growth3. Nevertheless, whether long-term drip...

to RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:24:p:13711-:d:700587

Abstract. Soil salinization is a major abiotic stress limiting wheat production. Although transcriptional responses to salt stress are well-studied, the ro

Abstract. Soil salinization is a major abiotic stress limiting wheat production. Although transcriptional responses to salt stress are well-studied, the ro

Extensive withdrawal of water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers for irrigation has been the cause of severe water scarcity in several parts of the world, limiting supplies for other human needs, such as drinking, washing, cooking, and sanitation1,2,3. Millions of hectares of farmland are also lost each year due to inadequate water management, such as poor application and drainage, leading to waterlogging and soil salinization, reducing crop yields and soil fertility over time. Humanity has entered an era of ‘global water bankruptcy,’ where we consistently withdraw water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers faster than nature can replenish it. About 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity for at least a month each year, and long-term depletion is causing permanent environmental damage and land subsidence in major cities. The ongoing shift from smallholder farming to large-scale commercial agriculture, driven by transnational large-scale land acquisitions4, has frequently enhanced crop yields through expanded irrigation. This shift often entails5 growing water-intensive cash crops in other regions, frequently conflicting with local demands and prompting the emergence of virtual water trading6,7,8. As a result, water footprints are exported through agricultural products across regions and continents9, often from water-scarce regions where land is cheap, and the limited...

This global study assesses how future increases in aridity will reshape dryland soil salinity patterns through the 21st century under four climate scenarios, evaluating compound future exposure to sal...

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Protecting the Hudson River & Safeguarding Drinking Water

Soil salinization is an escalating global threat to crop productivity. Here, we demonstrate that the sorghum bHLH transcription factor SbbHLH168 is a central regulator of salt-stress tolerance. SbbHLH...

Soil salinization threatens crop production and carries additional costs through lower nitrogen-use efficiency and greater reactive-nitrogen losses, strengthening the need to manage soil, water and nu...

Soil salinization, largely caused by the accumulation of sodium chloride, is one of the greatest challenges in agriculture. Excess salt restricts water upt

Every year, the villagers of Kiang Jifarong contribute labor and money to build earthen dikes using clay and mud in an effort to keep seawater out of their farms. Rice fields once stretched unbroken…

Episodic vertical salinization from storm surges causes acute root-zone salinity stress; lateral aquifer salinization causes chronic stress Freshwater inputs flush salt and buffer vertical salini...