Lysimeter experiments designed to study the quality of irrigation waters were initiated in 1953. The principal objective was to observe the effects of Na+ and HCO3- in the water on the chemical properties of the soil. After being cropped to alfalfa for four years, the soil was found to have significant salt gradients with depth. In many cases, there was an appreciable formation of exchangeable Na+, and “excess cation saturation” had been induced. Extensive chemical analyses are reported.
