Could the water inside crops help save resources during droughts?
It may sound like wishful thinking, but not to agricultural start-up Botanical Water Technologies. The company has partnered with Ingomar Packing Company, a California-based industrial tomato processor, to help the state’s San Joaquin Valley survive drought conditions, according to EIN Presswire.
Most fruits and vegetables are made up of high percentages of water. That includes tomatoes, which are 95% H2O. Yet when they are turned into paste or diced up in a can, a significant amount of that water is lost.
That’s where BWT saw an opportunity and developed what it calls Water Harvest Units. This technology can collect excess steam and wastewater during crop processing, which can then be purified and safely added back to the water supply.
This recapture system thus creates “the world’s first plant-sourced pure water,” according to the company’s website.
The San Joaquin Valley is part of the United States’ breadbasket, where a bulk of the nation’s fresh foods are grown. Yet the region is also one of the most impacted by water scarcity issues. Over 1,000 wells dried up in 2022, the press release reported.
And California is not alone. The lack of access to clean and fresh water impacts over 4 billion people around the globe. In many climates, rising global temperatures are making low rainfall levels and declining groundwater reserves even worse.
While solutions like WHUs won’t fix everything, they can make a solid dent. A single unit can produce 150,000 gallons of repurposed water in one day. Thanks to the Ingomar partnership, those water savings are being sent straight to farmers and local communities in the Central California Irrigation District, the press release reported.
Adding this new source of water to the area offers an economic boost and keeps people healthy. Plus, it allows natural waterways to stay a bit fuller, which helps out the wildlife in the wider ecosystem that also relies on those precious water reserves.
For BWT, the path to continue scaling up is clear. The large fruit, vegetable, and wine industries in California could all benefit from greater water resilience. The company is also launching similar projects across food systems in India and Australia.
“This is just the beginning of what’s possible when industry collaborates to grow water,” said Terry Paule, Founder and CEO of BWT, according to the release.
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