Treating Saline Groundwater for Improved Crop Irrigation

1. Reprinted from October 2015 •Vol.45,No.10
by MICHAEL A. CHAMP, PH.D.
As drought conditions persist in
much of the United States, the focus
by government officials has become
to reduce water use in agriculture for
irrigation of crops through regulation
involving use of irrigation technolo-
gies and practices and major regional
water use restrictions. With urban
areas having more votes, this use
of what was available freshwater to
farmers is now being reduced in some
states due to population growth and
water shortages. On April 25, 2014,
California Governor Jerry Brown
ordered the State Water Resources
Control Board to impose restrictions
to achieve a statewide 25 percent re-
duction in potable urban water usage
through February 28, 2016. The full
impact of this Executive Order on use
of groundwater for irrigation in agri-
culture is not yet fully known.
Many new technologies have been
developed to aid in water conserva-
tion, but water shortages continue to be
a major issue due to the large volume
of water needed by agriculture, and the
shortages have impacted crop produc-
tion and agricultural economics. One
long-term solution is to consider a new
source of water. The current technolo-
gies used to desalinate seawater are too
cost-prohibitive for agricultural use,
and a low energy cost, high water vol-
ume technology is needed.
A NEW WATER RESOURCE
Houston-based TransGlobal H2o,
LLC (TGH2o) has patents pend-
ing for a new advanced technology,
called the Optimizer, that treats sa-
line groundwater for use in irrigating
crops. Field trials have found that this
new technology can increase crop
production from 18 percent (spring
greens in 30 days) to 70 percent
(barley and oats in 112 days) over un-
treated irrigation water in arid regions
(Arizona, Texas and California) with a
wide range of saline soils and crops.
The theory by which the tech-
nology works is a two-step process,
which first introduces into the irriga-
tion water a negative charge similar
to the effect of lightening in clouds.
Women for centuries have been wash-
ing their hair with rainwater, because
after it is grounded it is very clean
and washes out dust, dirt and salts. To
do this, the Optimizer generates high
voltage pulses of selected frequencies,
which are discharged from a stainless
steel rod into the irrigation water in
the center of any size (2 to 14 inches
in diameter) irrigation pipe. These
pulses occur in microseconds, and
as they are discharged into the saline
water they separate electrons from
salt molecules, making the salt cations
more positive. These added charges
increase the hydrogen bonding of wa-
ter molecules, making the water more
negative, which increases the surface
tension, adhesion and cohesion of
Treating Saline Groundwater
for Improved Crop Irrigation
What is Saline Groundwater?
Salinity is a term used to describe the amount of salt in a given water
sample. It is usually referred to in terms of total dissolved solids (TDS)
and is measured in milligrams of solids per liter (mg/L). Water with a
TDS concentration greater than 1,000 mg/L commonly is considered
saline. This somewhat arbitrary upper limit of freshwater is based on the
suitability of water for human consumption. Although water with TDS
greater than 1,000 mg/L is used for domestic supply in areas where water
of lower TDS content is not available, water containing more than 3,000
mg/L is generally too salty to drink. The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has established a guideline (secondary maximum contaminant
level) of 500 mg/L for dissolved solids. Groundwater with salinity greater
than seawater (about 35,000 mg/L) is referred to as brine.
Source: “Desalination of Ground Water: Earth Science Perspectives,” USGS
An installed solar-powered TGH2o T6 Optimizer system treating low-saline groundwater
on Fuentes Berry Farm in Salinas, California.
PHOTOSCOURTESYOFMICHAELCHAMP

2. Reprinted from October 2015 •Vol.45,No.10
the water molecules. This increases
water conservation in irrigated soil by
aiding in moisture retention (i.e., the
treated water evaporates slower), and
therefore is available longer in surface
soils for seed germination and plant
growth.
In the second step, the treated
water is grounded, making the water
more positive. Then, when the treat-
ed irrigation water comes into contact
with soil, the salts are neutralized, and
as such they will not dissolve back
into solution, and over time they will
leach with depth like saline water has
for millennia.
These two steps reduce the osmotic
stress on plants in saline soils and
from irrigating with saline ground-
water by lowering the salts in the
water available to plants. The treated
irrigation water with a lower level of
dissolved salts can now dissolve more
nutrients and key plant growth miner-
als for plant uptake, suggesting the
potential for reduced application of
fertilizers and minerals.
In order to access water and nutri-
ents, plants use osmo-
sis, pulling fresh water
across the root cell
membranes for trans-
port to leaves. The
differences in osmotic
pressure caused by a
lower salinity water
in soils and a higher
salinity in plant tis-
sues enables water to
pass through root cell
membranes for up-
take by plant tubules.
The water having in-
creased adhesion and
cohesion of water
molecules, increases
capillary action in
plant tubules to move larger volumes
of available water and nutrients from
soils by roots to the leaves. In plants,
99 percent of the water moved to the
leaves is evaporated through leaf sto-
mata (pores) with the nutrients being
utilized by the leaves.
Normally saline groundwater
(1,500 TDS) is toxic to plants, because
soil watered with saline water reverses
osmotic pressure and pulls freshwater
out of plant tissues (desiccating them),
reducing water and dissolved nutrient
uptake by the plants, drastically re-
ducing plant growth and crop produc-
tion. TGH2o Optimizer technology
has been applied in paired field trials
conducted with 1,500 mg/L TDS to
9,000 mg/L TDS. The technology
can also be used to treat saline irriga-
tion water for prevention and removal
of scale formation in pumps, pipes,
irrigation sprayer systems and recla-
mation of saline soils for agriculture.
The electrical cost for a non-solar
Microchip T6 unit is less than $10 per
month to treat 200 acres.
During the 20th century, the domi-
nant government water focus was on
water quality —contamination of water
supplies by toxins, disease transmis-
sion and the environment — ignoring
quantity, because we were a fresh-
water-rich nation. In 1984, water use
in the United States reached “peak
water” and leveled off at 260 billion
gallons per day (bgd) by all uses and
has been at that level since then (plus/
Date Treated Untreated
5/3/14 162 153
5/10/14 204 190
5/17/14 174 151
5/24/14 218 205
5/31/14 206 193
6/7/14 205 189
6/14/14 217 193
6/21/14 193 182
6/28/14 163 153
7/5/14 176 168
7/12/14 289 273
7/19/14 247 238
8/2/14 195 173
8/9/14 93 59
8/16/14 39 67
Totals 2,781 2,587
Note: Strawberry varieties included ‘Del
Rey’ and ‘Manresa.’ There was no harvest
on 7/26/14 due to a labor shortage.
Fuentes Berry Farm Paired Trial
Flats per Acre, 5/3/14-8/16/14
Harvesting strawberries at Fuentes Berry Farm.
Charge probe mounted on PVC pipe with a saddle inside
incoming water line.

3. Reprinted from October 2015 •Vol.45,No.10
minus 2bgd), meaning that the water
use curves for supply and demand
have crossed.
In the 21st century, we have real-
ized that energy, water and security
(sustainable economic development)
are linked. Part of the problem in the
United States is that water for human
use has been cheap. The average na-
tional municipal water cost to a home-
owner for drinking water is $2.50
per 1,000 gallons, with price differen-
tial for above-average use during the
spring and summer months (watering
yards and swimming pools). Industry
pays $6.50 or more per 1,000 gallons.
Most of this cost goes toward simple
solids removal and disinfection treat-
ment and distribution (cost of energy
for pumping). Water is considered
free due to the hydrological cycle. In
2010, it was realized that the United
States had 10 major cities facing water
shortages due to population growth.
RESULTS & DISCUSSION
In 2012 TGH2o developed Co-
operative Farm Demonstration Proj-
ects (CFDPs) with farmers, which use
paired field trials with treated and
untreated test plots in arid regions to
study the effects on crop production
of using TGH2o-treated low saline
groundwater to irrigate crops (1,500
ppm TDS to 9,000 ppm TDS).
At present there are six second-
year CFDPs: Sorghum in Vega, Texas;
Strawberries in Salinas, California;
Carrots in Coalinga, California; Al-
falfa in Buckeye, Arizona; Cotton
in Midland, Texas; and Grapes in
Geiserville, California.
ORGANIC STRAWBERRY
CROP PRODUCTION
A 32-acre CFDP was developed
by TGH2o, LLC with Fuentes Ber-
ry Farm in Salinas, California, with
paired field trials testing the effective-
ness and performance of the TGH2o
Optimizer Technology for increasing
organic strawberry crop production
when irrigated with 16 acres treat-
ed and 16 acres untreated (controls)
low saline groundwater (1,500 mg/L
TDS). Plants drip irrigated with treat-
ed water were more robust with big-
ger berries and leaves. Soil from roots
of plants irrigated with untreated wa-
ter kept their hard clay plan, whereas
the soils from the roots of plants ir-
rigated with treated water had clay
plan reduced, and the soil crumbled
in your hand. A 20 percent reduction
in leached soluble salts was found
between treated soils (3,520 ppm) and
untreated soils — controls (4,390 ppm)
being drip irrigated with 1,500 TDS
LSGW over a six-month period. At
the end of the study, the analysis of
the crop production data found a 7.5
percent increase in organic strawberry
crop production (194 flats per acre) at
$12 per flat market value, for $2,328
increased revenue per acre per season
or $37,248 for the 16 acres treated for
the season.
Editor’s Note: For a complete list of
sources referenced and/or used in the ar-
ticle, please contact editor@acresusa.com.
The author would like to thank Kurt B. Jacobsen,
the former National Organic Supply Manager at
Driscoll’s Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries,
Blackberries, (www.driscolls.com) for helping him
work with Roy Fuentes, one of their growers. Mr.
Fuentes and his sons were excellent to work with
on these paired field trials.
To contact Michael A. Champ, Ph.D., TransGlobal
H2O, LLC: 7000 Vagabond Dr., Falls Church, VA,
22042; email drmikechamp@tgh2o.com or visit
www.tgh2o.com.
Soil from roots of plants irrigated with untreated water (left) kept its hard clay pan,
whereas the soil near the roots of treated plants is loose and crumbly.
Strawberry roots in treated soil.
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