ClearTech® set to deliver massive water savings for dairy farming
The ClearTech effluent treatment system at Lincoln University Dairy Farm (LUDF) has saved over 600,000 litres of freshwater in its first full month of operation. The quantity of freshwater saved equates to the average daily water use of about 3,000 people, or the amount of water that an individual person would use in eight years. With steeply-rising farmer demand for ClearTech, the new effluent treatment technology will potentially save billions of litres of freshwater a year if used across the New Zealand dairy industry. LUDF Farm Manager Peter Hancox says the impact of the ClearTech system on the farm’s operations has been a revelation. “Our ClearTech plant has been fully operational since the start of our milking season, and already the amount of freshwater we’ve saved is remarkable. We’re saving at least 50% of the water used to wash the yard. “If we continue along this trend, and we fully expect to, then over the whole 10-month season we’ll achieve a total saving of 6,000,000 litres of freshwater.” Hancox says the costs of set-up and ongoing maintenance are relatively modest, and far outweighed by the benefits that will accrue to farms and the wider community. And as the ClearTech system works away in the background, its benefits are delivered with no extra effort on behalf of the farmer. “It’s a win/win for farmers and the communities they’re part of, as every litre of wastewater recycled is a litre of freshwater saved.” The breakthrough technology, developed by Lincoln University Soil Science Professors Keith Cameron and Hong Di, in conjunction with commercial partner Ravensdown, won the Science & Research Award at the inaugural Primary Industries Awards in July 2019, and the South Island Agricultural Fieldays Agri-Innovation Award, as well as a Highly Commended at the 2019 National Fieldays Innovation Awards. The ClearTech […]