Water Purification Options for Cannabis Production

Water Purification Options for Cannabis Production

Professor DeBacco

What Purification/Filtration is
Water purification is the process of removing undesirable chemicals, biological contaminants, suspended solids, and gases from water.
There are a variety of method that can be used which is in part dependent on the initial water conditions and what is the target substance to be removed.

Water Volume vs Quality
Growers need to have a water purification system that will supply enough volume of water for the amount of plants they are growing
However, depending on the type of water that is initially incoming into the facility this can impact the type of purification system used.
Sometimes to get the proper quality of water takes time which can reduce the volume produced.
If this is under what is required by the plants there will be issues.
Also, growers need to factor in the volume their plants will consume on a hot day at full maturity.

Hard vs Soft Water
Hard Water:
Has a high content of dissolved minerals as hard, which are primarily high calcium and magnesium content. (Measured in milligrams of calcium salts per liter of the water.)
200-400 mg/L is the range for hard water while
400-550 mg/L is for very hard.
Typical tap water 170-390 mg/L. While it is not dangerous to humans, consuming this type of water can be harmful to cannabis.
Soft Water:
Soft water contains very little minerals to none at all.
Under 150 mg/L is very soft
150-200 mg/L is simply soft.
Rain water, purified, ionized, and distilled water is an example of soft water
*With rain water once it collects soil particles and minerals the harness scale will go up.

Reverse Osmosis
Advantages
Essentially produces “pure” water with an EC of -0- and -0- ppm
Disadvantages
Slow process
Generates waste water (not harmful) just not used
Membranes need replacement to prevent potential for microbe contamination

Tap Water
Advantages
Easy, come directly out of the tap
Disadvantages
Can have potential contaminants
May restrict what nutrients a grower can add

Carbon Filtration
Advantages
Effective at removing chlorine, volatile organic compounds (VOC), taste and odor.
Can remove sediment (but this will reduce the filters useful “life expectancy”)
Disadvantages
Does not remove minerals, salts and dissolved organic substances

Sediment Filtration
Advantages
Removes physical particles from water
Often used as a prefilter before other filtration methods to increase their longevity
Disadvantages
Only removes particles not chemicals or contaminants

The finer the screen typically the slower the flow rate

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