Water and salt management are vital to agricultural sustainability in Yuma, Arizona, which is located within the Lower Colorado River Basin.

Irrigation water contains salts and because the shallow ground water in the valleys, which fluxes up through the fine textured soil by capillarity, also
credit: Your Houston News

contains salts, some level of excess irrigation (beyond consumptive use) must be applied to leach salts below the crop root zone.

Effective leaching is especially important in the Lower Colorado River Basin because many of the crops produced are sensitive to salinity.

To reduce risk of loss of crop yield, there is some level of excess irrigation (beyond crop consumptive use) that must be applied to leach salts below the crop root zone.