Irrigation in Merom

3 tanks containing water.

  There are 3 tanks containing enough water for 2 days in case of an emergency water cut off.  One tank contains returned water after irrigation (Carl calls it recert).  The other two contains a mixture of rain, city, and well water.  Well water this year contains high level of sodium, so we use Phosphoric acid during the fertilizer mixing process to lower the pH level before irrigating plants.

One of the filter pump stations.

  There are also 8 tanks of filter pumps that the mixed water with fertilizer goes through before heading to the plants.  These tanks contain filter sand that gets rid of tiny garbage that may clog the pipes.  The garbage could be weeds growing on the water, piece of construction material that went in the fertilizer tank, and so on.  The filter sand is replaced every year in the cleaning season (December).

Filter sand stock.

  The pure water and recert water merge at one point in the pipe.  Then the machine that monitors both the pH level of mixed water and the fertilizer draws just the right amount from the two to make the perfect mix for irrigation.  The perfect mix is stored in the large tank located in the irrigation room and sent off to the plants every so often.  Of course, the frequency and duration of irrigation depend on temperature, climate, plant conditions, and many other factors.

  

  We also have to occasionally clean out the tanks since weed will grow on the surface.

Dried sand-like weed that is thrown out from
the water tank.
They look very green and moldy in the tanks.

Weed in a tank of water already mixed with fertilizers.

  It is important to note that recert water from certain plants cannot be immediately reused to water certain plants.  For example, excess water used for watering tomato plants must not be used to water tomato plants again because there might be viruses from the plants that got into the recollection sewer.  According to Carl, a sterilizing system is the better choice to counter this problem since the payback is 3 years compare to just wasting water.  The sterilization can be done in multiple ways, one of which is ultraviolet radiation.  The following are some of the water we can and can't reuse for.

• Bell pepper water can be reused to water bell pepper
• Cucumber water can't be reused to water cucumber
• Tomato water can't be reused to water tomato
• Cucumber water can be reused to water tomato
• Tomato water can be reused to water cucumber

  For more information about how the fertilizer is prepared, refer to the Fertilizer in Merom. (hyperlink to be added)