Ground-breaking solution gets gong

Gerard van den Bosch shows his innovative side.

Aquaduct NZ and its founder Gerard van den Bosch took out the 2014 IrrigationNZ Innovation Award at its biennial conference in Napier on Tuesday night.

Aquaduct's entry (alongside associate company Bosch Irrigation Ltd) included its ground-breaking solution for the manufacture of irrigation pipe for Valetta Irrigation Scheme's 84km underground network.

A factory to produce pipe on-site was created in a paddock within the scheme's boundaries slashing welding requirements by 80 per cent and reducing installation time and costs. The company supplied more than 80km of pipe in sizes from 1.6m diameter to 200mm in lengths up to 250 metres. The factory is New Zealand's largest capacity plant pumping out 5800 tonnes of pipe in 60 days.

Other innovative aspects of Aquaduct's involvement with Valetta included machinery designed specifically for the Canterbury Plain's unique cobblestone conditions and vibrating technology which bedded the irrigation scheme's pipe network greatly increasing its longevity.

Mr van den Bosch said the future of sustainable world development would rely on clean water and energy and Valetta's piped gravity-fed irrigation scheme created and delivered efficient use of both.

"The main driver for the Valetta project was the desire to eliminate water loss and allow 37 per cent more land to be irrigated from same quantity of water. The use of gravity to reduce pumping and save the farmers huge production costs was also a strong motivation," says Mr van den Bosch.

The judging panel of former IrrigationNZ CEO Terry Heiler, Magdy Mohssen, Andy McFarlane and Tony Devries said while the top four finalists were all of high quality, Aquaduct's win was a clear result based on its potential for large-scale adoption with significant efficiency gains and a long life span.

IrrigationNZ CEO Andrew Curtis says Aquaduct deserved national recognition for setting the bar high for other schemes.

"The newly piped scheme which only opened last month provides better water allocation through the gravity-fed pressurised pumps which improves water efficiency and the amount of land that can be irrigated in this part of Mid Canterbury. What Aquaduct and Mr van den Bosch achieved was literally a world-first manufacturing pipe on-site. Their contributions to reduce the environmental footprint of the scheme can't be overlooked either," says Mr Curtis.

Aquaduct NZ beat off stiff competition from fellow finalists FieldNET and K-line G-Set. FieldNET has created irrigation management technology which drastically reduces the use of water, time and labour when scheduling irrigation.

K-Line G-SET is a low- maintenance irrigation system for use on awkward-shaped terrain and steep hills as it offers more flexibility where terrain or field shape causes problems for traditional irrigation. Highly commended was IQ-H2 for its pod irrigation system.