The semiarid region is characterized as a region of high temperatures and as well as high temporal and spatial variability of rainfall. The deficiency of water resources is the main limiting factor in agricultural production. This study aimed to evaluate the quality of surface and groundwater for irrigation in South Central, Ceará, Brazil. Water samples were taken at 23 different points, eight representative of surface and underground waters and fifteen from the cities of Jucás, Cariús and Quixelô. The collection period was from April to June 2010 and analysis were performed at the Laboratory of Soil, Water and Plant Tissue of IFCE Iguatu Campus. The parameters investigated were: calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, carbonate, bicarbonate, sulphate, electrical conductivity and sodium adsorption ratio. The software Qualigraf was used to perform the classification of samples through the Piper diagram to compare and classify different groups of waters in relation to the dominant ions. The results showed that the sources had higher risk of groundwater salinity and sodicity for use in irrigation and according to the Piper diagram sodic waters prevailed with 87.0% when considering the cations and the 78.3% as choride when anions were considered.
salinity; ionic composition; diagram of Piper
