For the Project, 4 different salinity classes have been defined. A fifth class, called "0", is neglecting the salinity altogether.
Salinities are important for the balancing: resources of higher salinities may not be used to fulfil demands for water of lower salinities.
The present definition of salinity classes is defined as follows:
Table Salinity_Class TDS (total dissolved solids) in mg/l
| S_CLASS | DESCRIPTION | TDS_MIN | TDS_MAX | COMMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salinity Class 1 | 0 | 1000 | Good for Drinking & generally no restriction in irrgtn |
| 2 | Salinity Class 2 | 1000 | 2000 | Slight to moderate restriction on irrgtn use |
| 3 | Salinity Class 3 | 2000 | 2800 | Severe restriction on irrgtn use, only for special crops |
| 4 | Salinity Class 4 | 2800 | 50000 | Usable only after desalination |
| 0 | no Leaching | 0 | 0 | No consideration of salinity |