This could lessen the need for farmers to build and maintain evaporation ponds. And the trees might provide a new source of cash.
Evaporation ponds burden growers and the environment alike.
A 1-acre evaporation pond for drainage disposal is needed for every 10 irrigated acres in some parts of California, for instance. Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service in California pinpointed some top candidates in an experiment with eight different kinds of hybrid poplars. The idea of using hybrid poplars to recycle water from farms, factories, or sewage treatment plants isn't new. But the ARS study is among the first to scrutinize the hybrids' ability to withstand chloride salt, boron, and selenium in amounts sometimes present in irrigation drainage water. The scientists used hybrid poplars furnished by Louis A. Licht of Ecolotree, Inc., in Iowa City, Iowa.