Delta upgrades save water

Farmers relying on sparse reserves of water can solve some of their problems with a product quickly changing views on water treatment and management across Australia.

The Delta Magnetic Water Conditioner, which changes water characteristics with the use of magnetic technology, has revealed potential water savings of up to 20 percent.

Hunter Valley-based DELTAwater solutions has spent the last 18 months developing and trialing an upgraded model of its already successful conditioner and results have shown significant gains in water savings as well as water treatment.

Product designer Alex Panov said the constant evolution of DELTA technology was exciting and he was keen to take his product to where it was needed most. He has toured Murray River centres including Cobram, Mildura and Loxton and discussed with growers how his product worked and could be applied to various situations.

“Our release of an improved version of the DELTA Magnetic Water Conditioner is proving highly effective in producing overall results at no extra cost.” Mr Panov said DELTA magnetic water treatment changed the molecular structure of water, increasing its oxygen content, reducing its surface tension by 12 percent and in turn reducing its viscosity, or tackiness.

“This encourages greater soil penetration and in turn less loss of water to evaporation. From a plant’s perspective, its roots can absorb more water and nutrients because of ionized water molecules. In circumstances involving vegetable farming we’ve seen larger root mass on individual plants, which means a healthier, productive and pest and diseases-resistant crop.”

Mr Panov said the key in using the conditioner as a water-saving mechanism was how it reduced waste. “In a nutshell, we’ve seen farmers get the same or better crop results using significantly less water than they had in the past,” he said.

He singled out a vineyard in the Riverland region of South Australia as an example of how the product could improve results. He said in the 2007-2008 irrigation season a grape-grower, who had installed the DELTA conditioner, had applied significantly less water to his crops than usual. Yet the crops had maintained impressive crop growth and vigor.

“Not only that. He harvested one-tonne-a-hectare more grapes than previous harvests.” he said. “And during those 12 days of the 40-degree-plus heat-wave in March this year his vines showed no signs of heat stress.”

Another major benefit of the conditioning treatment is that it reduces problems associated with the build-up of salt and minerals, preventing damage to plants, soil, plumbing and reticulated systems.”

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