Horticultural Crops And Water Disinfection Technology

Israel’s Agriculture 2009

Implementation of Advanced Water Disinfection Technology in Horticultural Applications

Nadav Pass, hishtil

The potential of increasing disease problems through the use of irrigation water in horticultural operations becomes a serious concern. Major threats can be found in water supply, such as: algae, fungi, bacteria, nematodes and viruses. The necessity of finding a way to eliminate total pathogens in the water brought Hishtil to implement the HOD (Hydro Optic Disinfection) system that was developed by an Israeli company ("Atlantium"). Why Disinfect Water? The use of operational water tanks even when raw water is fresh and clean should be combined with water treatment/disinfection methods. Reasons for implementing HOD (Hydro Optic disinfection) system in the nursery water supply “Firewall” strategy- Eliminating/decreasing Total pathogens in the water system "70 million grafted plants annually need to be protected "Improving performance of reverse osmosis (RO) system "Monitoring the water along the nursery water transport. 30

Current Disinfection Technologies Atlantium HOD-an advanced disinfection technology Performance The technology- What is the Big News about The HOD? The new technology contains 2 main innovative ideas that considered being a change from the conventional thinking. Total Internal Reflection Uniform Dose Distribution

Israel’s Agriculture 2009

"Total Internal Reflection" Atlantium has managed to use the same principle as in optical fibers and by doing so the result is keeping the light energy in the water and increasing the disinfection efficiancy "Uniform dose disinfection" performing uniform dose in the cross section of the disinfection area which eliminate low dose channels and microbial escape routes. Achieving much better pathogens Log Reduction. Lamps location and configuration resulted in a great maintenance improvement since lamp fouling due to scale from heat known as a problem on conventional UV applications is no longer an issue with the HOD system. System performance in Hishtil "Log reduction of HOD “IN-OUT” indicates 2-3 levels on Bacteria Total count. "Decrease of Pseudomonas spp (End of pipe) presence of 2 Log levels. "Water monitoring along the system resulted in a significant sanitary condition improvement. "Improved sanitation procedures of water supply system. "Water Tanks: monitoring, cleaning, sanitizing "Water Pipes: monitoring, cleaning, sanitizing

Reverse Osmosis Efficiency improvement "Improved permeate flow rate by 20 percent. "Expenses reduction due to Micron filters replacements - of 80 percent. "Increase CIP treatments intervals from 2 to 12 weeks. "Saved 400m3 water/month due to less filters backwash. "Doubled utilization period of activated carbon filters.

Pseudomonas spp at HOD IN-OUT Point

Conclusions "The HOD system can manage water quality at entering. "Controlling all the way to the plants is highly important. "Periodical (entire) system disinfection is a must for inoculums control. "Water monitoring generated a profound perception of the contamination factors. "Water is only one potential source of soil born diseases. www.hishtil.com 31