Purpose: to determine the environmental issues that arose during the operation of irrigation and drainage systems, and the basic principles of managing the quality of drainage water from irrigated lands. Discussion. Analytical data on the condition of reclaimed lands, changes in groundwater levels during the operation of irrigation systems, the use of water resources, the results of theoretical and experimental studies of the collector-drainage flow quality in the irrigation system diversion collectors in the south of Russia are considered. The main problems are identified: land resources degradation, rising groundwater levels, resalinization and salt accumulation during irrigation, especially with irrigation water with increased mineralization, changes in the hydrological and hydrochemical regime of water bodies – collector-drainage runoff intakes. Legal problems associated with the classification of irrigation and drainage systems as objects of category III are highlighted. Ways to solve environmental problems, methods for managing the quality of drainage runoff, including the creation of local treatment facilities based on routing the collector-drainage network to irrigated areas suspended from the drainage system, in the range of 10–200 ha with construction of storage drainage sumps as places for metering flow and regulating the chemical composition of drainage flow. Conclusions. Pollution problems are regional in nature and are determined not only by economic activities, but also by natural factors. The set of irrigation canals, collector-drainage networks and water intakes of drainage-discharge waters participates in the inter-basin redistribution of surface and underground runoff. In the process of managing the quality of drainage water from irrigated lands and the environmentally safe operation of hydro-reclamation systems, three parties must certainly participate: reclamation departments, agricultural producers and government agencies.
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