Salinity

Salinity is a term used normally to describe the saltiness of water, however, it can also be applied to the saltiness of soil.  While the technical term for saltiness is halinity, salinity is the term that is in everyday usage.  Salinity is usually measured in parts per thousand rather than as a percentage, although there are also other methods of measuring in place.  Because salinity is the sum weight of a number of different elements, it needs to be turned into a substance for measurement purposes in order to have a correct measurement taken.

Salinity is a very important ecological factor, and is often used as a way to determine which kinds of life forms will thrive in a particular environment.  For example, a plant that is especially adapted to live in salty conditions is called a halophyte, and some bacteria who live in extremely salty conditions are given the rather appropriate name of extremophiles.  Considerations of water and its salinity content may become even more important in future years as water reaches a shortage level in some nations.  However, salt is very difficult to remove from water and desalinification is a very expensive process as a result.

Salinity in soil is a big concern for some nations, including Australia, where CRC salinity is being researched extensively.  Cooperative research centres (CRC) are key bodies for Australian scientific research, and salinity is one of their cheif concerns.  Soil suffers from very high salinity levels in Australia, in part due to the pumping up of boar water in order to make agriculture sustainable on such dry land.  Underground water has a very high salt level, and this is leading to more of Australia becoming drier and more desert like.

Salinity is a big topic, that a number of possible industries could be involved with in the future.  Future industries may work with removing salt from ocean water in order to make it drinkable, or trying to remove salt from the soil in some of the drier parts of the Earth.