Technology Breaks the Saline-Alkali Dilemma! Seawater Alkaline Land Improvement Technology Reaches International Leading Level

Recently, at the scientific and technological achievement evaluation meeting of "Comprehensive Efficient Integrated Technology and Application for Desert Brackish Water and Desert Improvement" held in Beijing, a breakthrough technological achievement has drawn high attention from the industry - the brackish water improvement technology for severely saline-alkali land developed by the team led by Zheng Sai. After evaluation by authoritative experts, it has reached the international leading level. The emergence of this achievement provides a brand-new "Chinese solution" for the governance of saline-alkali land and the utilization of brackish water resources in China and even the world.

The management of saline-alkali land has always been a global ecological challenge, especially for severely saline-alkali land, which is characterized by high soil salinity, poor structure, and water scarcity, making its management extremely difficult. In arid and semi-arid regions such as deserts, brackish water is widely distributed but difficult to utilize directly, further complicating the management of saline-alkali land. The team led by Zheng Sai accurately grasped the core logic of the coordinated management of "brackish water" and "severely saline-alkali land", transformed theoretical concepts into on-site practices, and embarked on the exploration of efficient management.

(Chart: The salinity of groundwater in Andier Township, Minfeng County, Hotan, Xinjiang is 0.4% - 0.75%, and that of saline-alkali land is 1% - 1.5%. It is classified as severely saline-alkali land.)

To ensure the smooth progress of the project, Zheng Sai specially arranged for 3 technical engineers to be on-site throughout the process to provide technical guidance, ensuring that the governance work is carried out scientifically and orderly with professional strength. From May 20, 2025 to September 10, within a 114-day practical period, the team successfully completed the "Salty Water & Severe Salinization Area Synergistic Governance" demonstration base, successfully achieving a key leap from theory to practice of the governance plan. Behind this efficient advancement lies the team's profound understanding of technical principles and precise control of construction details, further demonstrating the strong impetus of technology empowering ecological governance.

The feasibility and effectiveness of the technology have been fully verified during the project acceptance. On September 19, 2025, the special acceptance of the Xinjiang project was successfully carried out. After the experts from the Water and Environmental Center of the Xinjiang Geological Bureau conducted on-site inspections of the soil conditions, treatment processes and operation effects of the demonstration base, they highly recognized this treatment technology, believing that it not only solved the core pain points of salt-alkali land management in arid areas, but also achieved a major breakthrough in converting brackish water into potable water, with extremely strong regional adaptability. Currently, the project results have been adopted by the Water and Hydrogeological Survey Center of the Xinjiang Geological Bureau and have been implemented in the desert area of Hotan, Xinjiang; the practical results prove that the crops such as wheat, corn and sunflower grown on the treated land are growing well, completely breaking the predicament that crops cannot be grown on desert salt-alkali land, and truly bringing the once barren land a hope of abundant harvest.

The technology assessment meeting held on January 10, 2026, further confirmed the authority and leading position of this technology. This assessment meeting was of an extremely high standard, with an expert team consisting of authoritative experts from various fields such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the International Forestry and Grassland Bureau, the National Engineering Research Center for Urban Environmental Pollution Control, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Chinese Chemical Society, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Additionally, leaders from the Xinjiang Geological Bureau's Hydrogeological Environment Bureau and experts from Hebei Agricultural University also participated in the evaluation. Through rigorous review of materials, technical inquiries, and demonstration of achievements, the assessment experts unanimously concluded that this complete set of technologies has achieved innovative breakthroughs in the field of collaborative governance for the utilization of desert brackish water and the improvement of saline-alkali land, and has reached the international leading level.

The success of this technology not only solved the problem of severe saline-alkali land management, but also realized the resource utilization of brackish water, forming a virtuous cycle of "using water to control alkali and using alkali to save water". It has significant ecological, economic and social benefits. In the context of the continuous expansion of saline-alkali land area and the increasingly prominent contradiction between water supply and demand, the promotion and application of this internationally leading technology will provide strong support for ecological restoration, land resource development and sustainable agricultural development in more arid and semi-arid regions, and contribute significantly to the construction of a beautiful China and global ecological governance.