{"id":52904,"date":"2021-07-06T07:56:24","date_gmt":"2021-07-06T04:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/?p=52904"},"modified":"2021-07-06T11:24:37","modified_gmt":"2021-07-06T08:24:37","slug":"5-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/environmental-news-en\/5-59\/","title":{"rendered":"Study proves cost-effective polymer sealant could significantly reduce irrigation water loss worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"smart_content_wrapper\"><p>Irrigation is critically important for feeding the world, but it&#8217;s not very efficient. About 70% of global freshwater usage goes to irrigation. That percentage is even higher in the western U.S. Irrigated water is largely conveyed to fields by earthen canals, which are inherently leaky. It is difficult to gauge how much irrigation water seeps into the ground, but estimates from around the world range from 15 to 70%. In a recent study, Colorado State University researchers proved the polymer known as LAPAM is effective as a temporary, economical sealant for reducing irrigation water loss. This research could not only reduce water loss, it could prevent water and soil degradation.<\/p>\n<p>LAPAM plugs the leaks in earthen canals by settling out clay particles in the water and creating a thin but effective polymer-clay barrier. LAPAM is used in various applications all over the world. While it has less of an environmental impact than plastic or concrete liners, it is synthetic and could have potential adverse environmental side effects if used in excess.<\/p>\n<p>Wasted water and lower agricultural yields aren&#8217;t the only reasons to prevent seepage. Over time, lost irrigation water degrades water and soil quality. As irrigation water seeps into the ground, it mobilizes naturally occurring salts and potentially toxic trace elements that are then transported to rivers and streams, along with any pesticides and fertilizers the irrigation water may have picked up. This chemically altered water decreases water quality downstream. Seepage into groundwater also raises the water table, making the groundwater accessible for evaporation and transpiration by plants. As this water is lost from the system, the salt it contained is left behind, increasing the salinity of the remaining groundwater and soil.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2021-07-cost-effective-polymer-sealant-significantly-irrigation.html\">Phys.org<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Irrigation is critically important for feeding the world, but it&#8217;s not very efficient. About 70% of global freshwater usage goes to irrigation. That percentage is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":null,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":null,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31,77],"tags":[13902,13903,13904,13905],"class_list":["post-52904","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environmental-news-en","category-weeks-highlights","tag-irrigation","tag-lapam","tag-polymer","tag-water-loss","wpcat-31-id","wpcat-77-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/riisipelto.jpg?fit=100%2C100&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52904","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52904"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52904\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52989,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52904\/revisions\/52989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52904"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vastuullisuusuutiset.fi\/fi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}