MARGINPAR INNOVATIVE WASTE WATER TREATMENT

EXEO Capital’s Funds I and II have been invested in the Marginpar Group since 2018. Marginpar produces 300 million stems a year, on 460 hectares of production land. Production is divided over 17 flower farms, in Kenya and Ethiopia, with three primary supplier farms each in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. In Kenya, production of flowers (stems) rose by 100% over the last 10 years without adding a single hectare of land to the company’s farms. This is due, among other factors, to implementing a range of best practice agricultural learnings, subscribing to and attaining a wide range of international certifications and adopting innovative resource efficiency measures, such as the treatment of waste water for reuse, as reported in this article.

Marginpar using nature to treat waste water for reuse

All Marginpar farms in Kenya and Ethiopia now implement waste water treatment through specially constructed wetlands (see photos). Waste water from packhouses, central spray units, fertigation units, canteens, laundries, and tractor/car wash areas is channelled to the wetland systems. There, the waste water undergoes treatment in a series of deactivation tanks before being routed to the wetlands for further purification. At the wetlands, the effluent goes through a vertical flow bed, a gravel bed hydroponics system, and is then released into the surface cells (open ponds). Aquatic plants in and around the gravel beds, along with floating species in the ponds, take up the nutrients from the water. Ponds are treated with bentonite to prevent underground seepage, while supporting the growth of macrophytes. Daily monitoring of water quality takes place in the wetland system before the water is pumped to the final irrigation dam. If the water quality is not sufficient, it is pumped back to undergo another round in the wetland system.An indication of the quality of water in the wetland ponds and irrigation dam is the presence of frogs and fish. Tilapia fish in the irrigation dams help reduce algae by eating it. When the dam reaches its maximum fish capacity, the fish are used for daily staff meals.

Read the article here.