SHE’LL BE APPLES: Heathway Orchard orchardists Heather and Wayne Rice at their flourishing property. Picture: BRENDAN McCARTHY
New hydro system
helps battle drought
| By EUGENE DUFFY HARCOURT orchardist Wayne Rice may not fully understand the science, but in a tough drought year such as this he prefers to count his blessings. The apple grower was forced to resort to highly saline bore water to keep his 30 acres of apple trees alive. He was on the verge of installing a $72,000 reverse osmosis plant when he learnt about new South Australian technology that neutralises rather than removes the salt. Mr Rice said the advantage of the Hydrosmart system was it did not remove solids like iron from the water, but broke down their particle size, making them available as nutrients to his trees. ‘‘People around Harcourt are already commenting on just how green it all is (at the orchard),’’ he said. ‘‘It is the only thing that has got us through the year.’’ His bore water at 2800 parts per million of salt would normally be far too high for fruit tree tolerance of about 100 parts per million, he said. The system cost him $6500 for an 80 millimetre pipe outlet. It has eliminated the need for salt dams for residual water other systems require. |
‘‘With the RO, 30 to 50 per cent of the water is wasted, but with this 99.9 per cent is used,’’ he said. ‘‘Not only that, but because the particle size is so small, it has cleaned out our whole system —we haven’t had a blocked dripper in over two weeks.’’ Adelaide-based firm Hydrosmart is hoping the success of units installed around Bendigo will lead more people to consider ground water options to save gardens and businesses without the expense and residue of desalination plants. Hydrosmart managing director Paul Pearce said the advantage of the technology was that rather than removing the salt solids from the water, it neutralised their bonding ability, reducing particle size and making it available to plants and soil for nutrition. The technology uses computer - generated resonance frequencies in coil units around an outlet pipe. ‘‘It only requires a tiny amount of energy to break the bands, avoiding not only the saline sludge that RO treatments create, but costs about $10 per year to run,’’ Mr Pearce said. Much of the ground water sourced around Bendigo had levels of total dissolved solids above 1500 parts per million — three times |
the acceptable drinking limit, Mr Pearce said. But Hydrosmart was making water useful on properties with saline levels as high as 5000 parts. Strathfieldsaye resident Jack Moore said a bore he sunk last September was producing water up to 5000 parts per million. He faced the option of expensive reverse osmosis technology or capping the bore and not using it on his garden, but he heard about the particle technology on the Internet and installed a unit with positive results. Sedgwick resident Pam Drechsler’s Hydrosmart unit has enabled her to keep a flourishing vegetable garden. Ms Drechsler said some plants were sensitive to the treated water, including hydrangeas, but the vegetables were fine and trees and lawns were thriving. Winery D’ Arenberg in McLaren Vale, South Australia is among Hydrosmart’s high profile clients. Mr Pearce said he was disappointed with the lack of interest showed in the technology by the CSIRO after trying to have more research testing done. Instead, he said he would rely on the verification of users. |