Case Study: Fonterra - Clandeboye

Fonterra’s Clandeboye factory at Timaru is the largest milk processing plant in the Southern Hemisphere. The Company had been disposing of treated sewage by Sub-surface Drip Irrigation (SDI) but its previous system had failed due to blocked emitters.

Fonterra subsequently commissioned Ecogent, Environmental Engineers to design and irrigation specialist Parkland Products to install a new SDI system that would overcome that obstacle.

Consequently 14,000 metres of Wasteflow® drip tube with RootGuard® was buried (with a moleplough 150 mm down) over a 2 hectare farm paddock. The new control system uses Toro P220 valves series and is operated by the main factory PLC.

It enables the factory to dispose of 50m3 of “black” water per day. The system is so effective that there’s no threat of root intrusion and the pastures do not need the break from farming that would be required with spray irrigation. Animals can continue to graze while the sub-surface irrigation is being applied.