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The Prince of Wales Environment Leadership – Reef Sustainability Award – Nomination by Kalamia Cane Growers

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thumbnail of THE PRINCE OF WALES ENVIRONMENT LEADERSHIP

The company Pacific Bio Fisheries used a native macro algae process called ReGenAqua to clean their Aquaculture ponds to remove nutrients and pesticides from water that was to be released into the ecosystem connecting to the Great Barrier Reef.
In 2015/2016 a year long trial with James Cook University at the Cleveland Bay, Townsville, Waste Water treatment plant revealed some very interesting figures how this process of using Native algae from the ecosystem removed high amounts of Nitrogen and Phosphorous.
ReGenAqua is the low cost alternative to fix aged Waste Water Treatment plants in the Great Barrier Reef Region. With recent focus by the former Federal Government on Urban Waste water this technology used by Pacific Bio Fisheries on their Prawn farm near Ayr can also be used in Urban Waste Water Management,
For every megalitre of Waste water treated per day a total of 5000 kilograms of Dissolved In Organic Nitrogen was removed and a total 1111 kilo grams of Phosphorus was removed.
The technology is also cheaper than a constructed Wetland and uses less area and has minimal to no risk in extreme weather events.
A plant to treat 8000 kg of N per annum with ReGenAqua requires 4 hectares of land vs 80 hectares for a Constructed Wetland.
2-2500 kg of Nitrogen is removed per hectare with RegenAqua vs 100 kg of Nitrogen with a Constructed Wetland.
The algae is harvested to produce products that can be used in the farming process to help crops like sugarcane, horticultural crops, grains and livestock.
The market demand and amount of product produced only allows 2 products to be sold by ReGenAqua, Plant Juice and Big Shot Fertiliser sold by Liqua Force.
The product like Big Shot Fertiliser helps plants use Nitrogen more efficiently and reduce applied Nitrogen losses in liquid fertilisers. ( Article Townsville Bulletin 31/07/2021)
While Plant Juice helps in the root development of plants develop stronger root system for heat and drought tolerance and also help utilize atmospheric nitrogen.
The water is released with Nitrogen. phosphorous and pesticides removed and into the Great Barrier Reef.
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