“I think within three to four years, we’re all going to agree that water is one of the top three concerns. Labor, supply chain, and water.” – Jack Ford, North America Sales Manager at ErfGoed | ErfGoed
Water management used to be a valve and some pipes. If you had a well or a municipal supply, that was it, and it was time to move on to worrying about something else. For a burgeoning number of growers, that’s no longer the case. New restrictions and requirements are cropping up in places where water used to be a given. Managing water and wisely using what is available is more important every year.
“I think within three to four years, we’re all going to agree that water is one of the top three concerns. Labor, supply chain, and water,” says Jack Ford, North America Sales Manager at ErfGoed.
Regulation: Coming to a Well Near You
As we talked with industry professionals who work with water solutions every day, they all mentioned the same idea: Water is going to be more and more regulated. Even states in New England are passing laws about water use. If you’re not ready, it could come as an expensive surprise.
“We started this part of the business because we saw issues coming with water as a resource that will be regulated more heavily, available less, and be more expensive,” says Kurt Becker, Executive Vice President at Dramm Corporation.
“I think the biggest issue is a lot of growers don’t know they have a potential problem coming down the pipeline. They take their water for granted,” Ford says. Assuming the water quality won’t change is also an assumption. With more frequent severe storms, a growing urban sprawl, and an uncertain regulatory landscape at the federal, state, and local levels, water reliability can change in a matter of months. “We are starting to see the quality of groundwater becoming a challenge. Some areas are pulling a very high EC [electrical conductivity] out of their well, and I’ve seen numbers anywhere from 1.4 to 2.8 EC coming out of a well before anything’s been added to it.”
Not only water supply but water discharge is coming under scrutiny, especially at the local government level. With new laws requiring growers to collect all their effluent from irrigation, costs can add up.
“Some jurisdictions are requiring growers to collect all their gray water, the discharge water from their plants, and charging them per gallon (for disposal). It’s becoming a very, very costly thing. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars at the end of the year,” says Travis Dixon, East Coast Sales Manager at Ridder.
With regulation and increasing costs a sure bet, it makes sense to conserve where possible and prepare for future water issues, just like you would with supply chain management. Here are a few areas to evaluate for your operation.
Use a Closed Loop
If water is becoming scarcer and more expensive, it makes sense to reuse what you can. Collecting, holding, and sanitizing drain or leachate for reuse is good practice from a sustainable and economic standpoint. Letting it run off into a ditch or the sewer no longer makes sense.
“The solution we’re looking at is creating a self-contained unit where all runoff is captured and reused,” Ford says. Systems can range from simple to complex and involve some amount of sanitizing and the addition of makeup water for what wasn’t captured. “We build a system that’s pretty much self-contained. It sends water out to the crops and returns 80% to 90% of the water not used by the plants for reuse. It’s also a huge cost savings on nutrients because growers can reuse all their fertilizer and other treatments.”
Ford explained that understanding your return on investment is not only simpler than it seems, but it can also help you sleep better at night.
“You’re sleeping at night because you know exactly what’s going to your plants. You’re not worried if the township is putting fluoride in their water or if there’s high boron coming from the local water source.” Recycling your water to control your destiny seems a bit dramatic, but it’s not far from the truth.
While high-tech greenhouses have been recycling water for years, the idea isn’t limited to just the big operations.
“Our philosophy is that pretty much everybody’s going to have to be recirculating water at some point. Most ornamental growers are not, right now, and they could be,” Becker explains.
Water Retention Structures
Whether a pond or a tank, a water retention structure can add reserve capacity to keep things running and provide insurance against disruptions. | ErfGoed
“We have very common issues where growers are running out of water,” Becker says. Restrictions on withdrawals or limitations of wells — size, pumping capacity — can cause temporary shortages. Adding a water-retention structure, whether a pond or a tank, can add reserve capacity to keep things running and provide insurance against disruptions. “Instead of upsizing or installing a second well, just collect that water. It’s a simple water-saving technique a lot of growers don’t even understand is available to them. Run the pump into a tank big enough to collect all the water for a 24-hour period.”
With regulations on what growers can pump out of wells or other sources, Ford says, “I think you’re going to see a lot more growers have their own ability to hold water on-site and not rely on wells or city water.” And if rainwater collection is legal in your area, a water storage facility is an even better idea.
Sanitizing Water
Filtering and sanitizing water is important for system performance and avoiding the transfer of pathogens from one group or bay to another.
“When you’re recirculating it, you need to be able to deal with things you collect in it,” Becker says. Failing to sanitize water, especially reused water, can be costly. “We’ve got growers who have lost whole flood floors to Pythium because they spread it throughout the crop.” While methods for sanitizing differ from filtration to chemical injection, ozone, or UV light, the important part is that it gets done.
Ridder provides an ultraviolet light system called VitiLite to eliminate harmful bacteria, fungi, and pathogens in the water, says Corey Jubenville, North American Service Manager at Ridder. “It can be used as a stand-alone system right out of the box to disinfect water from tanks and reutilize that water.” It’s UV light, so no chemicals are needed. Sand filters remove anything after the UV light. “It’s an automated and environmentally friendly method for disinfection for any type of cultivation.”
Taking Control
Understanding your return on investment is not only simpler than it seems, it can also help you sleep better at night. – Jack Ford, ErfGoed | ErfGoed
Some growers have a computer running every facet of their operation that would put NASA to shame, but many still rely on a person to walk up and open a manually operated valve and send water down the pipe. It’s an area where human error can cost you a lot of water.
While advanced systems can control the greenhouse climate and adjust fertigation levels based on VPD (vapor pressure deficit), temperature, light measurements, and even media saturation, even a far simpler controller can help.
“We make simple to mid-level irrigation controls that are meant to run for specific periods of time. You can increase or decrease those using a water budget feature,” Becker says. It’s a simple tool, and the grower still provides the input — for those who wish to make the decision on when and how much to water themselves.
Becker explains that even if you don’t want to let the system turn the water on independently, you can still trust it to turn the water off, something humans are notoriously bad at. Who hasn’t been distracted by the phone, or a truck arrival, or forgotten to shut the valve off and gone to lunch (or home)? Even a simple water control system can prevent many overwatering situations and eliminate the need for someone to come in on Saturday just to turn a valve on and off.
