A number of tube-ivells in North Gujarat have good quality of waters suitable for irrigation. There are, however, a substantial number of tube-ivells which yield waters outside the conventional safe limit of total saltcontents of l,000p.p.m.(parts per million). The farmers in arid and semi-arid areas have a natural craving for utilising tube-well waters and ground waters of high salt contents. There are various formulae evolved by Indian and Foreign Scientists to appraise the quality of water. These formulae have been examined in classifying of waters examined in this paper. The investigation carried out shows a way of classification of water quality including a single value test. The results also show that in fixing criteria for suitability of irrigation water, water quality, the nature of soil and sub-soil and crops should be collectively considered. Sandy to sandy loam soils produce satisfactory crops even with waters of total salts from 2,000 to 3,000 p.p.
There is less accumulation of salts in sandy and sandy loam soil than the heavier type of soil beginning with sandy clay loams.
