Costs of Capturing and Recycling Irrigation Water in Container Nurseries

Abstract

<jats:p>In the future, the U.S. ornamental horticulture industry may be faced with limited water resources and increased requirements to reduce pollution runoff from production areas. The concerns are most evident to outdoor, uncovered container crop production, which relies on daily irrigation. Capture of precipitation and irrigation runoff from ornamental horticulture nurseries to be recycled as irrigation could potentially generate cost savings relative to the cost of alternative water sources. Existing nurseries may incur large investment costs to modify their infrastructure for water capture to recycle. These added costs must be compared with costs of alternative sources such as off-farm municipal or on-farm well water. Using both existing case nurseries and simulated nurseries, this study employed partial budgeting for comparison of annual costs of recapture and recycling to the alternatives of either municipally delivered water or on-farm well extraction. On-site visits were conducted at mid-Atlantic ornamental horticulture operations that recycle water currently to gather data for constructing budgets and to determine factors that enhance or inhibit nursery adoption of recycling. The partial budgeting analysis was followed by breakeven analysis with regard to costs of regrading, pond excavation, and opportunity costs of land to isolate their effects on the nursery adoption decision. Six of eight case nurseries currently obtaining from 20% to 100% of their irrigation needs from recycled water achieve lower production costs as a result of recycling compared with using alternative municipal or well water sources. Recycling would also reduce pollution runoff as water containing nutrients and chemicals would be retained for reuse on the farm rather than being discharged to public water bodies. Two case nurseries and two simulated nurseries that were constructed based on average conditions for nurseries participating in a mail survey see higher production costs as a result of recycling. The cost of land regrading for water recapture, excavating the recapture pond, and the opportunity cost of production area occupied by the recapture pond are critical for determination of the least cost outcome. Public funding incentives for water collection and recycling could motivate increased water conservation and reduced pollution runoff within the horticulture industry.</jats:p>

Greenhouse and Nursery Water Management Characterization and Research Priorities in the USA

“…Parsons et al [22] noted that growers use municipal reclaimed water extensively in FL, and in CA reclaimed water is a necessary source of water for irrigation. When evaluating whether to initiate water recycling, growers also mentioned costs and the need for additional information about (1) differential losses, or how much of water applied during irrigation events actually returns to the recycling reservoir; (2) potential for plant pathogen contamination of recycled water; (3) efficacy of treatment options; (4) return on investment [23]. Recently, Pitton et al [24] published a cost analysis study of installing water recycling infrastructure at a plant nursery that should help address grower concerns over return on investment, at least in regions of the USA where water is costly (more than $0.60 per 1000 L).…”

Recycling Irrigation Water on Ornamental Nursery Operations: Could Consumer Premiums Compensate for Grower Adoption Costs?

“…All the case nurseries had positive NPVs, indicating profitable investments. Most recently, Ferraro et al (2017) used partial budgets to estimate and compare the annual costs of recapturing and recycling irrigation water vs. extraction costs from wells or municipal water supply sources. They found that six of eight case nurseries (all of whom had already adopted some WRT practices) had lower production costs from capturing and recycling on 75% of their production areas compared with using well or municipal water.…”

“…With WRT, it is estimated that 40% to 50% of water applied could be conserved through recapture and reuse of both irrigation water and any storm water runoff (Wilson and von Broembsen, n.d.), thus increasing security of water supplies and reducing pollutant loads to nearby surface waters. Ferraro et al (2017) provided detailed analysis of recycling requirements and costs for VA, MD, and PA nurseries.…”

Horticultural Growers’ Willingness to Adopt Recycling of Irrigation Water

“…Ferraro (2015) analyzed nurseries that used well water, municipal water, or recycled water as their primary source for irrigation. For a small nursery with low-cost access to well water and annual gross revenues of slightly more than $100,000, substituting recycled water for well water would increase annual costs by some $21,000 (Ferraro, 2015). The $26,000 figure suggested here would be sufficient to compensate for the increased cost plus a risk premium.…”

“…Some growers may have constrained production areas, and setting aside land for recycling infrastructure may be physically challenging or impossible. Further, the capital costs of grading field topography to capture storm and irrigation runoff, and of constructing the associated holding ponds, can be substantial (Ferraro, 2015).…”