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There is increasing environmental pressure to dispose of waste effluents on land, rather than discharging them directly into surface waterways. In addition to reducing impacts on water quality, land disposal of effluents offers the possibility of beneficial recycling of water and essential plant nutrients. Frequently, however, waste water contains high concentrations of dissolved salts, particularly sodium, that can affect the levels of salinity and sodicity in soils. This, in turn, can diminish the utility of soils for productive agriculture. Astute soil management can often ameliorate these adverse affects but this may require land-use practices that reduce the commercial return from farming activities. It is therefore important to identify the main purpose of effluent disposal areas and to compensate land users appropriately when the operation of the effluent disposal scheme affects farm profitability. If farmers are forced by commercial …