Partial Desalination of Saline Groundwater, including Flowback Water, to Produce Irrigation Water

Abstract

Globally, more than 50 million ha of arable land is irrigated with saline water. The majority of this saline irrigation water is derived from saline groundwater. Global irrigation requirements may increase from 270 million ha in 2014 to about 750 million ha by 2050 as the global population increases to 9.1 billion people. The majority of this additional irrigation water is likely to come from saline groundwater sources. Desalination of irrigation water increases crop yield. A combination of high water volume requirements and low crop yields requires that, for widespread usage, the desalinated irrigation water product will require a delivery price of 960 m3 d−1 as required; (ii) a desalinated, perched, stationary, shallow groundwater mound, located above the regional water table, containing >200 m3 of desalinated water.