AN Australian water treatment company is helping a sizeable Malaysian hydroponic operation to increase output and feed locals.
Waterco manufactures and distributes products for the international swimming pool and water treatment markets.
Established in 1981 and listed on the ASX in 1989, Waterco is also the franchisor of Swimart, Australia and New Zealand's largest network of pool and spa retail outlets.
Using its Hydroxypure product in Malaysia has helped vegetable production and revitalised a water-efficient operation.
The Cameron Highlands’ hydroponic lettuce farm, is situated in Pahang, West Malaysia, about 85km from Ipoh and about 200km from Kuala Lumpur.
It has become a popular tourist attraction since opening in 1990.
At an elevation ranging between 1135 metres to 1829m above sea level, it is the country’s highest point accessible by road.
Considered the epicentre for Malaysia’s vegetable and flower farming sectors, the region is famed for its lush, fertile soil, cool climate, steeply farmed hillsides, tea plantations, and sprawling strawberry farms.
Hydroxypure inventor Nick Briscoe said the challenge with the massive farm involved the open water races and drains, which is essentially a network of long channels where each lettuce is individually grown and fed.
“The channels were filling up with algae and, when lettuce gets bacteria in it during the propagation phase, it dies very quickly once it’s picked,” Mr Briscoe said.
A further challenge involved the lack of quality starting water in Malaysia.
Domestic sewage, livestock farming and other liquid organic waste products are said to be responsible for a large number of polluted waterways throughout the country.
“So we had three challenges to address: One was cleaning up the water races as they were getting clogged up with algae; Two was creating a healthier lettuce that would last longer after it was picked; and three was improving propagation time,” Mr Briscoe said.
Two trials using Hydroxypure filtration system were set up using food grade hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at 35 per cent: Trial One was small scale with 100 crops, while Trial Two involved a larger scale involving 16,000 crops spread out over one acre.
With both trials, the objectives were as follows:
- To compare growth rate with control set;
- To compare disease/mortality rate with the control set; and
- To prevent algae from growing in the hydroponics channels and drains.
“The first thing that happened was that we fixed the problem in the water races, so they were all clean and free of algae,” Mr Briscoe said.
“The second significant thing that happened was that propagation went from 55 days down to 31 days.”
Hydroxypure’s hybrid ozone technology stimulates the action of the sun by generating a high-intensity wavelength of light, which in turn produces a clean form of ozone that is free of impurities.
The natural flocculating effect that ozone has on water greatly increases the capability of the filtration system to be able to filter out oxidised contaminants in the water, leaving hydroponic water clean and clear.
“Hydrogen peroxide, which is hydrogen and oxygen, does not form any by-products when you’re adding other chemicals,” Mr Briscoe said.
“This enabled us to achieve positive results on the hydroponic farm without upsetting the other growing systems.”
Waterco’s head office is in Sydney, with international offices, manufacturing plants and warehouses located in Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, China, US, Canada, France and the UK.
