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Irrigation suitability of White River in Indiana, Midwestern USA

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Abstract

Climate change models consistently project future precipitation reduction and temperature increase during the crop growing season in the US Midwest, which may exacerbate surface water scarcity issues confronting regional agriculture. To maintain consistent crop yields under the risk of increased droughts, farmers may shift from rain-fed agriculture to irrigation agriculture, particularly during drought periods. There is an urgent need to understand whether surface water in the Midwest is suitable for irrigation. In this study, irrigation water quality was comprehensively analyzed for commonly used parameters regarding salt content including sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), adjusted sodium adsorption ratio (SARadj), soluble sodium percentage (SSP), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), residual sodium bicarbonate (RSBC), magnesium adsorption ratio (MAR), permeability index (PI), Kelley’s ratio (KR), synthetic harmful coefficient (SHC), and salinity. Results indicate that water in the White River at Muncie was rated mostly in excellent to good condition with regard to irrigation quality. However, the irrigation suitability level exhibited two distinct patterns between May–July and August–October. Specifically, an average of 7.8% of the samples from May to July were unsuitable for irrigation, and an average of 24.5% of samples from August to October were unsuitable for irrigation considering all parameters. Flow rate change over time and the release of pollutants from wastewater treatment plants and combine sewage outflows to the White River impacted on the irrigation water quality variations of the river. This study showed that there are higher risks during the fall season for farmers to use surface water as an irrigation source, and this risk might be greater if extended or more frequent drought events occur in the future. To our best knowledge, this is the first peer-reviewed study on irrigation water quality assessment in the Midwest and provides useful information for farmers and decision makers to consider while formulating applications for irrigation.

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Data Availability

The datasets used in this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgement

The authors also acknowledge Dr. Amy Gregg for constructive comments during the research process, the Muncie Sanitary District for their support to the study.

Funding

This research was supported by the Ball State New Faculty Startup Fund under fund number 120198; the Indiana Academy of Science Senior Research Grant number award number A19-0204–001, and a Ball State Aspire Graduate Research Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment, Geology and Natural Resources, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA

    Md Shahin Alam, Bangshuai Han & John Pichtel

Authors
  1. Md Shahin Alam
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  2. Bangshuai Han
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  3. John Pichtel
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Contributions

SA was involved in conceptualization, methodology, data processing, manuscript writing, and original draft preparation; BH contributed in conceptualization, methodology, and data visualization; manuscript writing and editing; and project management; JP contributed to reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Bangshuai Han.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables

Table 5 Basic cation data for Five Sampling Locations, White River, Muncie. For each site, duplicate samples were collected, marked as Site 1 and Site 2
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Table 6 Field test and irrigation suitability parameters hydrochemical data
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6.

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Alam, M.S., Han, B. & Pichtel, J. Irrigation suitability of White River in Indiana, Midwestern USA. Environ Geochem Health 43, 4179–4200 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-00905-2

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