Appendix P - Irrigation Water Quality Guidelines Table P4 - Tolerance of Chloride Sensitive Crops to Chloride in Irrigation Water Crop Irrigation Method Maximum Chloride Concentrations (mg/L) Citrus Overhead Sprinklers 100 Under-tree Sprinklers 265 Stone-fruit Overhead Sprinklers 70 Under-tree Sprinklers 175 Vines - 350 Tobacco Overhead Sprinklers 30 Source: Callinan (1970), Jones (1972), AWRC (1969) Table P5 - Tolerance of Crop to Sodium Tolerance *SAR of Crop Condition Irrigation Water Very sensitive 2-8 Deciduous fruits, nuts, Leaf tip burn, leaf citrus, avocado scorch Sensitive 8-18 Beans Stunted, soil structure favourable Moderately tolerant 18-46 Clover, oats, tall fescue, Stunted due to nutrition rice and soil structure Tolerant 46-102 Wheat, lucerne, barley, Stunted due to poor soil tomatoes, beets, tall structure wheat grass, crested grass, fairway grass Source: Hart (1974) * SAR - Sodium Adsorption Ratio (the relative proportions of sodium ions to calcium and magnesium ions in the water). Table P6 - General Guidelines for Salinity of Irrigation Water Class Comment Electrical TDS Conductivity (mg/L)* (μS/cm) 1 Low salinity water can be used with most crops on 0-280 0-175 most soils and with all methods of water application with little likelihood that a salinity problem will develop. Some leaching is required, but this occurs under normal irrigation practices except in soils of extremely low permeability. App P - 3