CNC develops green irrigation strategy

Water, as a producer of energy, is a tremendous force. In 2017, the College of New Caledonia’s (CNC) Applied Research and Innovation (AR&I) department harnessed that power on a small scale to develop a strategy for green irrigation with Red Rock’s PRT Growing Services and Whistler’s Brew Creek Centre.

CNC’s AR&I team, led by researchers Sorin Pasca and Arahao Gasana, implemented a ram pump design to capture energy created by falling water, which moved along a line creating a functioning zero emission pumping system.

The project’s environmental impact potential was what attracted Red Rock’s PRT Growing Service to the CNC’s research, according to nursery manager Blaine McFadden.

Though the project was small in scale, it was successful in proving zero emission irrigation’s potential to PRT’s current dryland willow production.

“Growing willow to offset natural gas consumption is, in itself, a green and exciting idea,” McFadden said. “Then watering it with a zero emission pumping system adds further innovation.”

The project ran into an early hiccup in Red Rock as beavers decided to dam the areas of the creek the ram pump was pulling from. Not deterred, Pasca and Gasana built a siphoning system to separate the dam area from the supply waterline.

“The system worked in harmony with the natural environment of the creek,” Pasca said. 

Working with CNC’s AR&I department to develop a green irrigation strategy helped Whistler’s Brew Creek Centre in more ways than one, according to head grower Steph Becic.

With the ram pump, Brew Creek was able to move 11,520 litres of water per 24 hours for irrigation without the use of an electric pump. Brew Creek is also pursuing other ways to benefit from the project, such as producing energy, growing watercress with the soft flowing stream produced by the ram pump or even keeping cultivated mushrooms watered.

“In any of these systems, the use of untreated natural water will greatly support plant life, rather than suppress it,” Becic said. “This hands-on experience produced spontaneous challenges, all of which were overcome at the time, with more modifications to come in the spring.”

CNC’s research team, now including two more students, Kyle Klynsoon and Fabrice Muligo, is in the process of moving the ram pump project into a second phase. The College is now collaborating with three companies, PRT Growing Services, Bionera Resources and Sylvis Environmental, to research the implementation of off-grid irrigation on willow energy crops.

The system will also be tested for delivering drinking water to cattle to prevent stream bank erosion. This study will be conducted in partnership with Little Valley Farms, in Vanderhoof.

On a global scale, the application of this ram pump system for zero emission irrigation has wide potential, Pasca said.

“It can operate anywhere a head of water exists,” he said. “This head can be as little as three feet and can be used to pump water in areas of the globe without access to traditional energy resources.”