Fresh Select are among the Werribee South producers recently connected to a new pipe system that delivers irrigation water underground. However, Fresh Select Australia Pty Ltd co-owners Adam Ballan and John Said have criticised the quality of recycled water they’re delivered to grow cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce.
Adam Ballan said now that the water infrastructure has improved, the quality of the water should be next. “The reality is the quality of water we’re getting is not as good as we’d like it to be,” Mr Ballan said. “For the sustainability of farming we need to get the water quality right.”
That is why a desalination plant in Werribee South is one of the solutions considered by local food producers.
Melbourne Water has been supplying recycled water from the Western Treatment Plant to farmers in Werribee South, since 2005. Ballan said the low quality of the water made farming more expensive. “Because it’s high in salt, it definitely makes it harder to grow vegetables. Our costs go up a lot because we’ve got to use different fertilisers in order to counter it,” he said.
Fresh Select co-owner John Said said a privately funded, small-scale desalination plant was one of the solutions being considered.
Source: wyndham.starweekly.com.au