Effectiveness of wetting agents for irrigating sandy soils

Gross, A., Mohamed, R., Anda, M.ORCID: 0000-0001-7398-4192 and Ho, G.ORCID: 0000-0001-9190-8812 (2011) Effectiveness of wetting agents for irrigating sandy soils. Water, 38 (2).

Abstract

Soil hydrophobia, or water repellency, in the coarse sand typical of the Swan Coastal Plain in Perth in Western Australia is common, leading to reduced ater infiltration. The main practice recommended to alleviate water repellency is the use of wetting agents, most of which are surfactantbased. Five commercial wetting agents were evaluated for their effects on water infiltration into samples of native sandy soils. Capillary rise and double-ring infiltrometer methods were used for this purpose. The infiltration of water was somewhat improved with the application of wetting agents, but this was short-lived and, when measured a few days later, was similar to or lower than the infiltration in the untreated sand. These findings raise questions on the efficiency of surfactantbased wetting agents to treat waterrepellent soils. Further investigation into the interaction and adsorption between surfactants and soil particles is needed. Keywords: Wetting agents, water repellent soils, infiltration, capillary rise.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Murdoch Affiliation:	School of Environmental Science
Publisher:	Australian Water Association
URI:	http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/11097

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