What is saline water and why is it defined as saline?
Water is classified as “saline” when it becomes a risk for growth and yield of crops. Saline water has a relatively high concentration of dissolved salts (cations and anions). Salt is not just “salt” as we know it – sodium chloride (NaCl) – but can be dissolved calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), sulfate (SO42-), bicarbonate (HCO3-), Boron (B), and other compounds. Salinity of water is referred to in terms of total dissolved solids (TDS), but salinity is actually approximated by measuring the electrical conductivity (EC) of water, expressed in decisiemens per meter (dS/m) or less often in millimhos per centimeter (mmhos/cm) (the two measurements are numerically equivalent).
