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An adverse relationship between irrigated agriculture and wetlands in arid regions could be mitigated by using recovered shallow ground water for irrigation. Salt and water balances for the Carson Division of the Newlands Project in Northwest Nevada were created to identify the suitability and the potential annual recovery of ground water from the shallow aquifer for crop irrigation. Project salt balances and salt concentration ratios suggest that the shallow aquifer acts as a salt source for total dissolved solids (TDS), Na, Ca, and SO4, but is suitable for irrigation. Annually, 7.38 x 10(-2) km(3) (60,000 acre-ft) of shallow ground water could be available for irrigation. Exchanging the intercepted ground water (TDS = 1,235 mg/L), which presently flows to the wetlands, with an equal quantity of uncontaminated reservoir water (TDS = 150-300 mg/L) would benefit the wetlands.