When greenhouses are located right next to a large freshwater lake, it makes sense to use that water for crop irrigation. Hacienda North Farms, a pepper grower that is part of Mucci Farms, does exactly that, now using carefully filtered lake water through ultrafiltration technology. They enlisted Mienis Water, a Dutch company, which delivered two large ultrafiltration systems to the Ontario-based farm in late February. These systems can process up to 100 cubic meters of lake water per hour each.
"Honestly? I'm surprised at how well and easily the system works," says the General Manager of Hacienda North Farms, in late May. At that time, the Mienis Water systems had been running for about three months. "Often, adjustments are needed to make new technology investments work properly. I expected the same here."
A key aspect of ultrafiltration is the membranes the water must pass through. One challenge with using water from Lake Erie is that it can become very murky, especially with an east wind. The pepper growers refer to it as "chocolate water." To protect the membranes of the ultrafiltration system, they try to avoid using lake water on days when it is heavily contaminated and instead use their buffer tanks. However, to test the effectiveness of the Mienis Water system, they ran it even on days with heavily contaminated water. "The System handled it well, even at a water turbidity of 150 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units)," the GM of Hacienda observed. This confirmed their confidence in choosing the Dutch-designed system.
Lake Erie is close to the greenhouses of Hacienda North Farms
Self-cleaning system
An important feature of the Mienis Water system is it being capable of fully maintaining itself and adapting to changing conditions, emphasizes Finch Genuit. "Ultrafiltration removes all particles and infections from the water. Other disinfection techniques don't do this, which can leave dead tissue in the water that feeds infections present in silos or irrigation pipes."
Finch runs the family business with his father Jochum, his mother Anita, and his sister Tanne. The GM of Hacienda was impressed when he met the father-son duo at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference. "I like businesses where you can talk directly with the owners. I got clear answers to all my questions, which convinced me."
There was some hesitation from the General Manager of the big bell pepper company, since not many ultrafiltration systems from Mienis Water were in use in the region. But after examining the membranes used by Mienis Water, the GM of Hacienda was reassured. He's been following the development of ultrafiltration technology for a while and has seen systems operating in other industries.
What about service when choosing a Dutch supplier? "Very good," the GM of Hacienda now confirms. "All parts are locally available, and if an issue arises, they remotely access our systems, even at night, to assist and resolve problems."
No more issues from fluctuating water quality
By late May, Hacienda North Farms is in full swing for the pepper growing season. This season, they've switched en masse to growing on coco substrate. The plants are thriving, even though the peak of summer is yet to come. "There's a lot of water flowing through right now, yet we haven't needed to clean the membranes with chemicals for over two months." Finch adds that this is because the systems keep the membranes clean even under high contamination levels. "Automation and high quality are crucial for us because we want to ease the growers' workload."
Mienis Water's systems do not require a coagulant, which is a substance used to clump together small particles in a liquid, to handle the murky water from Lake Erie. This was a significant request from Hacienda North Farms, Finch notes. Only when the incoming water is extremely dirty does the pepper grower choose to add a tiny amount of chlorine. This can be directly managed by the Mienis Water system, which is operated by a programmable logic controller (PLC). "This helps keep the filters cleaner," says the GM of Hacienda. Additionally, the pepper grower uses products that aid the plants in better absorbing nutrients like calcium.
Before investing in Mienis Water's systems, Hacienda North Farms also used water from Lake Erie. The water was pumped from the lake and allowed to settle in a settlement tank, with the dirt sinking to the bottom before it passed through sand filters. "It was a lengthy process, constantly requiring someone to adjust treatments to keep the water clean, especially with the lake water quality varying so much."
Hacienda North Farms
Also for drain water
The pepper growers still use sand filters to pre-filter the water before it passes through Mienis Water's systems. "We no longer need tanks for settling," the GM of Hacienda notes. In the last 15 years, ultrafiltration technology has significantly improved. "If you'd asked me back then to invest in ultrafiltration for cleaning lake water, it would've been tough to convince me."
Now, things are different, and at Hacienda North Farms, their investment has piqued the interest of another agricultural colleague. "They asked us how the membranes are faring with Lake Erie water." The farm now operates all 160 acres on ultrafiltered water. "In the future, I'd also like to see if we can use ultrafiltration to clean drain water. The system works precisely as you want as a grower. When I log into the software, I see exactly the data I need, including historical data."
For Mienis Water, success with several systems in North America (including with another grower since early 2023) is significant for their growth ambitions. "We want to establish a stronger presence in Canada," says Finch. "Lake Erie's water is tough to treat, and people were surprised we took on this project. We're truly proud of it!"
For more information:
Mienis Water
[email protected]
www.mienis-water.nl