DNA trials show Hydrosmart’s Australian-made water conditioning systems increases boosted yields, soil activity and growth outcomes in highly mineralised water.
Water is a high-value asset to farmers – but its value depends on its quality.
Substandard water can cause big problems for crops and stock, not to mention irrigation infrastructure. Anything that can improve the quality of the water we draw from bores, wells, dams, and rivers, then, is great news for Aussie agriculture.
Enter the Adelaide-based water conditioning company Hydrosmart, which has been working at the forefront of the water treatment space for 25 years, with CEO Paul Pearce at the helm and his two sons in the growing businesses team of several employees.
The company’s core technology is a computerised, chemical- and filter-free water conditioning system that softens hardwater that’s high in salt, iron, calcium, and other minerals.
A microprocessor unit is attached to the outside of a pipe and directs resonance frequencies onto the water inside, breaking down the bonds in its minerals and in any existing mineral deposits in the pipe.
That sounds complex – but the devices are easy to install, don’t require maintenance, and only cost around $10 per year to run. The benefits they can bring include improved growth rates, reduced scale layers and corrosion in pipes and troughs, decreased water use, and stock that fatten more quickly.
Hydrosmart products, which found early success working with South Australian winemakers, has helped everyone from strawberry, olive, and citrus growers to broadacre and livestock farmers. Other satisfied customers include largescale commercial miners and small-scale domestic gardeners.
The results speak for themselves. In trials on young lemon trees in California, for example, Hydrosmart-treated water increased growth by 30 per cent over the first year, water conditioning systems increases boosted yields.
Recent soil experiments run at Victoria’s RMIT measured increased activity of beneficial fungus in the root ball of plants grown in treated water compared to those using untreated bore water 3,500 ppm TDS which was used to grow lettuce in a greenhouse when DNA samples were laboratory analysed.
With water security being a key challenge of our time, we need to make the most of every drop of our water supply – and an investment in a Hydrosmart conditioning system is a step in the right direction.