suited for surfactant and polymer flooding conditions than the preflush technique or any method used to prevent precipitation salting out adsorption or phase inversion in an embodiment a mixture of low salinity brine and high salinity brine are pumped into the hydrocarbon containing formation to gradually and continuously reduce the salinity within the formation in an embodiment the pump is an automated control pump the mixture is injected into the formation at a flow rate dependent on the physical characteristics of the formation in an embodiment the mixture is injected into the formation at a ramp rate of q to 0 simultaneously with injecting the high and low salinity mixture into the formation a second pump injects fresh water into the formation in an embodiment the pump is an automated control pump the fresh water is injected into the formation at a rate dependent on the physical characteristics of the formation in an embodiment the fresh water is injected into the formation at a ramp rate from 0 to q in an embodiment the first pump and the second pump are pumping inside an inline mixer the total flow rate exiting the mixer is q the salinity is thus gradually and continuously reduced in an embodiment a mixture of.