Scott Wagner, in 2004, was looking for a solution to treat his problem well water at his large flower growing operation in Ham Lake, Minnesota. He accepted the initial cost outlay of $250,000 for a commercial reverse osmosis system. However, he couldn’t swallow an estimated $30,000 in annual operating costs associated with the proposed system.

“Our problematic well water is 3 parts iron and 2 parts manganese and the ionization and oxygenation on our irrigation system has proven to be a very cost effective solution,” claims Scott Wagner. Visitors of the greenhouse are often told by employees that the water is so good they actually bring it home in 5 gallon buckets for bathing and drinking. The problematic well water was also over 20 grains in hardness (350 ppm of carbonate calcium) and the flow rates often exceeded 60 GPM. Wagner is now spending about a thousand dollars a year on operating costs such as media change out and anode replacement on his 6 filter tank configuration. His planet friendly system also conserves water and uses less electricity then a comparative reverse osmosis system.

The Wagner system consists of electronic control units that talk to 6 Pentair 2850 1 1/2″ water valves and has operated without issue for the past 5 years. It should be pointed out that the Minnesota grow season is only 5 months long, running from May until September and Pentair recommends rebuilding of the valves every 3 years when their equipment is operating in more temperate climates such as Minnesota.

Pahls Nursery, located on the other end of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, to cite another example, has been treating all of their nursery plants with oxygenated and ionized water since 2000. As their nursery has expanded, Pahl have added two irrigation systems. Nursery President, Gary Pahl, states that his six tank, 60 GPM, second ‘hex” has been running for six seasons with oxygenation and ionization without a filter/valve overhaul or single other maintenance event. According to Pahl, ” We knew we were doing both the fiscally and environmentally responsible thing when we purchased our second ionization and oxygenation irrigation system in 2003.”

The research also makes the case for the ionization/oxygenation combination for plant growth. Seed germination studies have quantified faster and higher rates with ionized and oxygenated water. With the oxygenation and ionization levels measurable in the water, soil moisture levels have remained at elevated levels. The retail landscape community has recently added “Oxygenation” product lines, to go with the huge trend towards ecological methods, have recently been added by the retail landscape trade. Finally, ionization and oxygenation is a zero brine, zero chloride discharge technology which wastes no energy “double pumping” reverse osmosis water, discharges no brine or chloride to the groundwater, and saves 35-50% of the usually discharged water.

ECOsmarte has non-salt, non-chemical water technology installed in all 50 US states & 100 countries. In 2010 ECOsmarte received the Water Quality Association’s GOLD SEAL designation for its municipal whole house water systems.