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For millennia, civilizations have had to deal with the impacts of irrigation, specificallyimportation of salt into agricultural areas with the irrigation water. Those civilizations thathave done so successfully have survived. Those that haven't (the vast majority) haveeventually failed as crop yields dropped and fertile land became desert. Every year, thesouthern San Joaquin Valley (one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world)imports about 1.5 million tons of dissolved salts with irrigation water. Until now, that salthas remained in place, since there is no method of removing the accumulating salts. In afew locations, groundwater salinity has risen as high as 100,000 mg/L.Recognizing that the salt buildup must eventually be addressed, the Buena Vista WaterStorage District, in conjunction with the California Department of Water Resources, University of California at Los Angeles(UCLA), and Boyle Engineering, embarked upon a project to demonstrate the viability ofdesalting agricultural drainage waters, reclaiming a significant portion for irrigation ordomestic use, and concentrating the salts to make them more amenable to disposal. Thisthree year program (as presently structured) will be completed in the fall of 2002.There are many challenges facing agricultural drainage desalination, ranging from obtaining aconsistent supply to dealing with the high biological activity of the water. The greatestchallenge will be disposal of the concentrated salts.This paper describes the demonstration treatment plant and its three yearoperation. Operating data is given, specifically describing the fouling performanceof the membrane system. An evaluation of water quality using various extraction methodsis described, as well as the performance of the pretreatment filtration with theseextraction methods. An evaluation of the potential requirements for desalination within theSan Joaquin Valley is included.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/05/2003 Number of Pages: 1