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Journal of Arid Land  2020, Vol. 12 Issue (1): 90-103    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-020-0092-8
Research article     
Challenges for the sustainable use of water and land resources under a changing climate and increasing salinization in the Jizzakh irrigation zone of Uzbekistan
Rashid KULMATOV1,2, Jasur MIRZAEV2, Jilili ABUDUWAILI1,3,4,*(), Bakhtiyor KARIMOV5
1 State Key Laboratory of Desert and Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China
2 National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent 100170, Uzbekistan
3 CAS Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Urumqi 830011, China
4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
5 Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, Tashkent 100000, Uzbekistan
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Abstract  

Jizzakh Province in Uzbekistan is one of the largest irrigated areas in Central Asia without natural drainage. In combination with aridity, climate change and extensive irrigation practices, this has led to the widespread salinization of agricultural land. The aim of this study was to identify opportunities to improve the reclamation status of the irrigated area and how best to effectively use the water resources in Jizzakh Province based on investigations conducted between 1995 and 2016. A database of field measurements of groundwater levels, mineralization and soil salinity conducted by the provincial Hydro-Geological Reclamation Expeditions was used in the study. The total groundwater mineralization was determined using a portable electric conductometer (Progress 1T) and the chloride concentration was determined using the Mohr method. The soil salinity analyses were conducted by applying two different methods: (1) the extraction and assessment of the soluble salt content, and (2) using an SM-138 conductivity sensor applied to a 1:1 mixture of soil sample and water. The analyses of the monitoring results and the salt balance in the "irrigation water-soil-drainage water" system clearly demonstrated that the condition of the irrigated land in the province was not significantly improved. Under these conditions, the stability of crop yields is achieved mainly through the use of large volumes of fertilizer. However, excess amounts of mineral fertilizers can also cause the salinization of soils. The average groundwater salinization value in most of the irrigated land (75.3%) fluctuated between 1.1 and 5.0 g/L, while the values were less than 1.0 g/L in 13.1% of the land and in the range of 5.1-10.0 g/L in 10.5% of the land. During the period of 1995-2016 the salinization level of the irrigated land in Jizzakh Province increased slightly and the area could be divided into the following classes: no salinity (17.7% of the total area), low salinity (51.3%), moderate salinity (29.0%), and high salinity (2.0%). Detailed studies of the salt balance in irrigated land, the impact of climate change, increased fertilizer use, and repeated remediation leaching on the groundwater level and mineralization should be conducted in the future, due to the possibility of accelerated salinization, fertility decline, and reduced yields of agricultural crops.



Key wordsirrigation      groundwater level      salinity      soil salinization      salt balance      Uzbekistan     
Received: 03 September 2019      Published: 10 February 2020
Corresponding Authors:
About author: *Corresponding author: Jilili ABUDUWAILI (E-mail: jilil@ms.xjb.ac.cne)
Cite this article:

Rashid KULMATOV, Jasur MIRZAEV, Jilili ABUDUWAILI, Bakhtiyor KARIMOV. Challenges for the sustainable use of water and land resources under a changing climate and increasing salinization in the Jizzakh irrigation zone of Uzbekistan. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(1): 90-103.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-020-0092-8     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2020/V12/I1/90

River Hydropost River water mineralization (g/L)
2000 2005 2010 2016
Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave
Syrdarya Nadejdinskiy 0.8 1.8 1.3 0.5 1.5 1.0 0.7 1.5 1.1 0.7 1.7 1.2
Zarafshan Pervomayskiy 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.4 0.3 0.5 0.4
Table 1 Mineralization of river water used for irrigation in Jizzakh Province during 2000-2016
Category Total dissolved solids (TDS; g/L)
Fresh 0-1
Low mineralization 1-3
Medium mineralization 3-10
High mineralization 10-50
Table 2 Classification of groundwater (GW) based on total mineralization (Priklonsky, 1970)
No Level of
salinization
Sulfate Chloride-sulfate Sulfate-chloride Chloride
TDS (g/L) TDS (g/L) Cl? (g/L) TDS (g/L) Cl? (g/L) Cl? (g/L)
1 No salinity <0.3 <0.1 <0.01 <0.1 <0.01 <0.01
2 Low salinity 0.3-1.0 0.1-0.3 0.01-0.05 0.1-0.3 0.01-0.04 0.01-0.03
3 Moderate salinity 1.0-2.0 0.3-1.0 0.05-0.20 0.3-0.6 0.04-0.20 0.03-0.10
4 High salinity 2.0-3.0 1.0-2.0 0.20-0.30 0.6-1.0 0.20-0.30 0.10-0.20
5 Very high salinity >3.0 >2.0 >0.30 >1.0 >0.30 >0.20
Table 3 Classification of soil salinity, based on TDS and chloride (Cl?) concentration (modified after Bazilevich and Pankova (1970))
Critical GW depth (m) Admissible level of GW salinity (g/L) Maximum concentration of chlorine in GW (%)
0.8-1.0 About 1.0 0.17
1.0-1.5 1.0-2.0 0.17-0.27
1.5-2.5 2.0-3.0 0.27-0.37
2.5-3.5 3.0-5.0 0.37-0.69
>3.0 >5.0 >0.69
Table 4 The critical groundwater (GW) depth and the related admissible level of groundwater salinity in irrigated soils (Gafurova et al., 2005)
Water retention and percolation capability of irrigated soils GW salinity (g/L) Critical GW depth (m) Admissible GW level (m)
Weak 1.5-3.0 1.2-1.5 1.5-1.8
Weak 3.5 1.5-1.8 1.8-2.0
Average 3.5 1.8-2.0 2.0-2.3
Strong 3.5 2.0-2.2 2.3-2.5
Strong 3.0-8.0 2.2-2.5 2.5-3.0
Table 5 Critical GW depth related to the water retention and percolation capability of irrigated soils (Gafurova et al., 2005)
Fig. 1 Dynamics of groundwater (GW) level changes in irrigated land in Jizzakh Province
Mineralization (g/L) Irrigated land area (×103 hm2) Percentage (%)
≤1.0 39.17 13.1
1.1-3.0 116.15 38.9
3.1-5.0 108.85 36.4
5.1-10.0 31.48 10.5
≥10.0 3.01 1.0
Total 296.88 100.0
Table 6 Dynamics of the long-term (1995-2016) average GW mineralization in Jizzakh Province
Fig. 2 Long-term (1995-2016) dynamics of groundwater (GW) mineralization of the irrigated land in Jizzakh Province
Fig. 3 Temporal soil salinization dynamics of the irrigated area in Jizzakh Province from 1995 to 2016
Year Irrigation water input Drainage water output Salt balance
WV M C TS TC WV M C TS TC TSB TCB
(×106 m3) (g/L) (×103 t) (×106 m3) (g/L) (×103 t) (×103 t)
2000 2644.6 1.5 0.4 4099.2 925.6 966.5 4.5 1.1 4319.1 1111.4 -219.9 -185.8
2001 2351.8 1.3 0.4 3125.5 945.4 980.6 4.2 1.0 4166.5 950.1 -1040.9 -4.7
2002 2507.8 1.3 0.4 3265.1 942.9 935.4 3.4 1.1 3177.7 1028.9 87.4 -86.1
2003 2600.8 1.1 0.3 3081.9 847.9 830.8 3.3 0.9 2789.9 717.0 292.0 130.9
2004 3067.4 1.1 0.3 3542.8 1015.3 920.5 4.6 1.2 4207.7 1150.7 -664.9 -135.4
2005 3368.8 1.0 0.3 3665.3 1152.1 798.9 2.3 0.8 1872.8 659.9 1792.5 492.2
2006 2660.4 1.1 0.3 3075.5 824.7 719.5 2.1 0.8 1548.5 603.7 1526.9 221.0
2007 2816.9 1.1 0.3 3188.8 997.2 765.4 3.1 0.9 2386.6 682.8 802.1 314.4
2008 2447.3 1.2 0.4 3054.2 1003.4 621.4 3.2 0.9 2015.8 587.2 1038.7 416.2
2009 2513.8 1.1 0.3 2928.5 852.2 692.7 2.9 0.8 2063.6 594.3 864.9 257.8
2010 2812.8 1.1 0.3 3220.6 992.9 732.6 3.6 0.9 2677.6 697.4 542.9 295.4
2011 2593.9 1.1 0.4 3001.1 1027.2 679.4 3.1 0.9 2081.6 607.4 919.4 419.8
2012 2390.2 1.2 0.4 2865.9 948.9 737.3 3.0 2.9 2209.1 2169.3 656.7 -1220.4
2013 3100.8 1.3 0.4 4046.6 1364.3 893.6 3.5 1.0 3120.6 895.4 925.9 468.9
2014 2548.8 1.1 0.3 2923.4 823.2 781.6 3.9 1.1 3040.3 886.3 -116.8 -63.0
2015 2464.5 1.2 0.3 2883.4 845.3 1115.8 3.7 0.9 4108.9 1102.4 -1225.5 -257.1
2016 2854.7 1.3 0.4 3645.4 1064.8 875.9 3.6 0.7 3140.2 643.8 505.3 421.0
Average 2690.9 1.2 0.3 3271.4 974.9 826.4 3.4 1.1 2878.0 887.5 393.4 87.4
Table 7 "Irrigation water-soil-drainage water" salt balance of Jizzakh Province during 2000-2016
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