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The expansion of arid and semi-arid areas and consequently water scarcity are affected by climate change. This can influence on availability and quality of water while demands on food and water are increasing. As pressure on freshwater is increasing, utilization of saline water in a sustainable approach is inevitable. Therefore, bioremediation using salt tolerant plants that is consistent with sustainable development objectives might be an alternative and effective approach. In this study, saline wastewater from a local desalination treatment plant was utilized to irrigate four halophyte plants, including Aloevera, Tamarix aphylla, Rosmarinus officinalis and Matricaria chamomilla. A field experiment was designed and conducted in Zarrindasht, south of Iran in years 2012- 2013 accordingly. Two irrigation treatments consisting of freshwater with salinity of 2.04 dS.m-1 and desalination wastewater with salinity of 5.77dSm-1 were applied. The experiment was designed as a split plot in the form of randomized complete block design (RCB) with three replications. The results of variance analysis, ANOVA, on salt concentration in Aloevera showed that there was no significant difference between the effects of two irrigation water qualities except for Na. In Rosmarinus officinalis, only the ratio of K/Na showed a significant difference. None of the examined salt elements showed a significant difference in Tamarix aphylla irrigated with both water qualities. In Matricaria chamomilla, only Mg and K/Na ratio showed a significant difference (Duncan 5%). As a result, no significant difference was observed in salt absorption by the examined plants in treatments which were irrigated by desalination wastewater and freshwater. This could be a good result that encourages the use of similar wastewater to save freshwater in a sustainable system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the presence of accurate information about variability of soil properties been considered more than ever to apply this information in economic modeling, environmental predictions, accurate farming and natural resources management. The present research was conducted in some lands of Qazvin plain to study variability of some chemical and physical properties of soil by sampling 62 observational points in depth of 20 cm above soil surface. Initial statistical study of data indicated that the studied properties follow normal distribution in the region. Spatial variations of the studied properties showed that spherical model was the best fitted model to semivariogramin other properties than silt percent and bulk density and total porosity. The highest radius for the studied properties was 21100 m related to bulk density, total porosity and electric conductivity and pH. Spatial dependence class was observed medium to strong in all physical and chemical properties. To validate intrapolation methods, three indices of evaluation, R², MBE, MAE which indicate accuracy of each of the intrapolation methods were used and results showed that the studied properties had spatial structure, their impact range had good variability and kriging estimator better can show variability of the studied properties in the region in comparison to IDW method. At the end, considering the best interpolation method, spatial variability map of each of the properties was prepared in ArcGIS software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]