Focus Water Waves
The whole is more than the sum of its parts Water Waves tests innovation with greenhouse farmer
“Greenhouse horticulture involves high energy and water consumption”, explains Mateo Mayer, director of Water Waves. “It also produces effluent which can contain nutrients and pesticides that can end up in the surface water
Water Waves, affiliated with the WaterCampus Leeuwarden, is working hard to reduce the ecological footprint of greenhouse farming. It is currently testing a combination of advanced technologies at APM Aardbeien in the Frisian town of Berlikum [northwest of Leeuwarden]. It is an allin-one concept, which includes the treatment of effluent. The step to this ‘launching customer’ was made possible by the Water Application Centre (WAC) and a financial contribution from the VIDA programme. 10 |
and drinking water.” Mayer has tackled the problem by ingeniously combining his own innovation, ‘ultrasound’, with common technologies which are already in use all over the world: UV-C and iron electrolysis. The result is significant savings in energy, investment and chemical costs. The overall concept also has applications beyond the purification of effluents in greenhouse horticulture. Mayer: “It can also be used to treat wastewater from hospitals,
