Do you have enough water?

Weather extremes urge growers to recheck and increase their water buffer.

These days we see more and more weather extremes: longer periods of droughts and shorter periods of heavy rainfall. The availability of high quality water -wherever and whenever you need it- is crucial for growers’ business. This urges growers to recheck their water management.

During recent visits in greenhouses abroad, when asked about buffers for unforeseen circumstances, it came to our attention that a lot of growers hardly have any water buffers to survive for more than a day. Depending only on well water is bringing higher risks in the continuity of irrigation plans. And water is essential for the quality and yield of crops, so that makes us ask the question: how big is your water buffer? How many days can you go ahead with your water supply in a dry period or when your well dries out?

And what is enough water? To prevent unpleasant surprises, that question is important to answer. Water supply can be calculated; crop type, greenhouse size, water reuse and climate are often considered. A margin on top of that should not be missing.

In the Netherlands it is a common practice to harvest every drop of rainwater in order to create an as large as possible buffer to use during longer dry periods. Besides the rainwater coming down for free, also the quality of rainwater is generally higher than well water and it requires less treatment. In short, rainwater harvesting has several advantages ánd is crucial in increasing water buffers.

To us, the foundation of building up water buffers is having a system that can harvest rainwater. Installing water tanks or basins can turn free rainwater into a valuable advantage. Both high-tech greenhouses or small scale projects can benefit from rainwater harvesting systems, increasing that valuable water buffer. NPI can help to find the right solution for your water storage needs.

Now more than ever it is important to find solutions to build up a larger water buffer to cope with climate changes. The future of horticulture is all about creating (climate and water) resilience!