In at the deep end – horticulture and water

Here in the South East many of our water sources are categorised as ‘over pressurised’ in one way or another. With a changing climate, a growing population and the food security issue looming large, that pressure is set to increase.

In 2009, I was made a Water Champion for the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA). In this role I’ve been lucky enough to visit some of the more innovative water capture, storage and cleaning systems that have been developed by nurseries in the UK. 

The projects have been really successful. Where the nurseries have been using mains water, the paybacks on investment have all been less than 4 years, many have benefitted from grant funding, and most report crop benefits through improved water quality. For those using water from a borehole there isn’t such a strong financial driver (though this may change in the future), but they do benefit from water improvements and crop security.
 
On a personal level, I’ve been most interested in biological water systems. These systems recycle water using a biologically friendly system, and the water that comes out the other end has no pollution risk and contains microbes that are beneficial to the plant.
 
Inspired by this we have recently installed a biological system at Lowaters. This highly aerobic system includes a gravel bed and iris bed to remove unwanted plant pathogens from the water and to biologically enliven the water. Our first water samples have shown a significant increase in biological activity as the water flows through the system, and there are no plant pathogens within the clean water tank.

And it’s successful in financial terms too – we’ve now disconnected the mains and we hope that the £80,000 investment will quickly pay for itself in eliminating or at least severely reducing a bill that was close to £25,000/annum – amounting to a 3-4 year payback at current water prices.
 
You can find out more about the system by downloading a report about it on our website. We’re also holding an open day at the nursery on 28th September where you can look round the system at Lowaters and discuss other issues. If you’re interested, please contact Mariaf@gardenbeauty.co.uk to book a place or for further information.

Charles Carr is Nursery Director for Lowaters Nursery. You can contact him on CharlesC@gardenbeauty.com.

• Read our Farming Futures water management factsheet
• Read about how the Broadland Water Abstractors Group are working together on water