Integrated Assessment of Groundwater Quality for Water-Saving Irrigation Technology (Western Kazakhstan)
Murtazin Y. Kulagin V. Mirlas V. Anker Y. Rakhimov T. Onglassynov Z. Rakhimova V.
April 2025Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI)
Water (Switzerland)
2025#17Issue 8
Western Kazakhstan is susceptible to desertification, with surface water resource scarcity constraining agricultural development. Groundwater has substantial potential as a reliable and secure alternative to other water resources, particularly for irrigation, which is required to ensure food security. Eight aquifer segments with an exploitable potential of 0.24 km3/year have been identified for the integrated assessment of groundwater’s suitability for irrigation. The assessment criteria included hydro-chemical groundwater characteristics and irrigated land soil-reclamation conditions. The primary objectives of this study were to assess the groundwater quality for irrigation and to develop a practical operation scheme for rational groundwater use in water-saving irrigation technologies and optimize agricultural crop cultivation. Approximately 90% of the groundwater in these aquifer segments was found to be suitable for irrigation, with a total amount of 6520 thousand m3/day and a salinity of up to 1 g/L, and an additional 12,971 thousand m3/day had a water salinity of up to 3 g/L. Only approximately 10% had TDS values above 3 g/L and up to 6.5 g/L, categorized as conditionally suitable for restricted customized agricultural crop irrigation. Irrigated land development by complex soil desalination agro-reclamation operations enabled the use of brackish water for irrigation. The integrated analysis allowed the development of drip irrigation and sprinkling system irrigation schemes that gradually replaced wasteful surface irrigation. The irrigated land prospective area recommended for groundwater irrigation development is 653 km2, with the further restructuring of cultivated areas, reducing the number of annual grasses and grain crops and increasing the number of vegetables, potatoes, and perennial grasses.
groundwater , irrigation , irrigation coefficient , irrigation water quality , soil salinization
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Ahmedsafin Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geoscience LLP, Satbayev University, Almaty, 050000, Kazakhstan
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ariel University, Ariel, 40700, Israel
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials & Biotechnology, Ariel University, Ariel, 40700, Israel
Department of Environmental Research, Eastern R&D Center, Ariel, 40700, Israel
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Group, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010, VIC, Australia
Ahmedsafin Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geoscience LLP
Department of Chemical Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials & Biotechnology
Department of Environmental Research
Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Group
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