A pilot test of the use of treated wastewater to irrigate crops will begin to be implemented by the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of the Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC) starting next semester, said the institution’s director, Daniel Gonzalez Mendoza.
This is a project focused on finding alternatives for water reuse in the Mexicali Valley, given the cutoff of 128 million cubic meters of water from the Colorado River announced by the International Limits and Water Commission (CILA) for this year in Baja California). .
The pilot plan will be implemented in one hectare of barley cultivation, which will be irrigated with treated water from the university’s own water treatment plant, which has already obtained permits from the federal government to carry out this activity.
“We are confident that in this course we can start it up, that we have the plant, that the portion of the permit granted to the federal authorities has been covered so that it meets the standards; that it does not contain microorganisms that could affect health, and that it has quality and physical and chemical analyzes that are similar to far irrigation water, and it has already been achieved”
According to González Mendoza, this project expects to reuse about 9,000 liters of treated water, which is currently sent to a canal after treatment.
Al-Moallem explained that the Institute of Agricultural Sciences has appointed a new researcher in the field of water sciences, who will work to design different irrigation alternatives that use less water than the traditional forms used in the Mexicali Valley, such as flood irrigation.
Likewise, producers in the Mexicali Valley are asked to take into account these alternatives that, although they may represent a cost in the beginning, will represent significant water savings in the medium and long term.
“Producers must believe that water will not be eternal, that it is necessary to think of new crops and to make the use of the resource more efficient”
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