Geohumus

Almost two years after the fact, more than 22 states around the US have declared a “drought”, and a total of 36 anticipate severe water shortages by 2013*. Whenever drought conditions surface, the combination of environmental effect, coupled with a lack of awareness and inaction by public regulators, almost always converge to fail the consumer. In this industry “consumers” are large commercial and private property owners and they are always the last ones to be notified they can’t flush, shower or water their lawns.

What does this mean to the consumer? Flushing, a minor inconvenience to children and teenagers, is easily abandoned; showering less, the French have proven is no deterrent to affection, but NOT watering your lawn means a 10-15% reduction in property value and serious capital losses. Commercial property holders spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in upkeep and, along with private property owners, lose real money when there is no “green space” framing their property. Worse, an investment in landscaping is expected to be amortized over 5-7 years but that investment can be lost in a single drought season. 

What does this mean for your business? Translating consumer reaction to water shortage conditions makes for steep buying and holding cycles that wreak havoc with the soil composition and landscape industry, and translates into financial planning catastrophes. How do we as an industry wag the tail and not the dog, in other words, drive consumer demand in the right direction and not towards the quick fix? As an industry we need to manage consumers onto a steady path of transition to the future, the highly regulated water use future.

What is happening with the water we have? Water rights are being negotiated between agriculture districts and municipalities daily. Regulators impose restrictions on both sides but focus on “consumer use practices” where they believe they can be most effective. The regulators work to help the consumer figure out “how to do more with less” water. The result is mostly mechanical gadgets, and transitional technology, which is supposed to lead us to more effective use of water. Government agencies are imposing harsher penalties on over use, enforcing the employment of flow meters, restrictors and those wimpy shower heads that leave one feeling they stepped into a heavy fog rather than a cleansing shower.

How do we effectively use less water? Municipal, commercial and private water use issues have been in the limelight for 20 years but the options for management of water use have been marginal, making consumers skeptical and resistant to change. Large chemical companies have attempted to address the issue, liking the market but lacking the insight into agricultural requirements and attempting to employ products that don’t match the environmental conditions or offer value. Over time the products fail, leaving a breach and stronger cynicism in the marketplace. So how do we as an industry affect this issue, at a time when we need to improve margins, on reduced revenues, in the midst of an extreme economic downturn? The answer I believe is that as an industry we need to provide a reliable solution that delivers on the goal of more effective water use, before the government makes those decisions for us. Consumers have an urgent need to address this issue, and the government is starting to require they pay attention with fines and new rulings on water use. As an industry we need to educate the consumer ahead of the regulations that are sure to come.

What does it mean to lead in “effective water use”? Leadership in effective water use comes from knowing what didn’t work historically and understanding what can work now. Geohumus® is a company which is dedicated to effective water use. Geohumus® is NOT the complete answer but it is critical part of an overall solution that currently has gaps. The many compounds that have been employed to fill these gaps have failed based purely on a misunderstanding of environment and landscape management practices. The polymers and chemicals that were created to retain water for industrial applications have been tried but couldn’t fill the gap, they were never designed to release water or mix with soil.

Geohumus® was designed specifically for use in soil to improve its water absorbing properties significantly more than either peat or coir based products. When incorporating Geohumus® into the soil, the seepage of water is reduced, while increasing in proportion “plant available water”. This enables a more efficient use of valuable water resources and plant nutrients for various agricultural, horticultural and landscaping applications. In most cases employing Geohumus® reduces watering requirements by a third.

The product is produced through a patented manufacturing process. High quality natural components are polymerized to yield Geohumus®, a structurally stable composite material made from volcanic rock flour, Bentonite, silica and organically occurring acrylic acid. In contrast to typical super absorbent materials, Geohumus® maintains its structural stability during water uptake in the natural soil environment without compromising the matter and gas fluxes of the soil, or the habitat function for a vast diversity of organisms. It is proven to break down to its natural mineral components through degradation or digestion by native organisms in 3-5 years.

Detailed benefits of Geohumus® are:

• Increase in water holding capacity of soils
• Increase in plant yield and accelerated growth
• Prevention of leaching of valuable nutrients
• Reduction of irrigation frequency or quantity
• Reduction of energy, labor and maintenance cost associated with irrigation
• Assurance of plant growth in extremely hot and dry climatic regions
• Enhanced survival rates of new trees and shrubs
• Reduction of dust and odor formation in horse arenas and tracks
• Improved biological degradability

The Geohumus® website (www.geohumus.com) gives an overview of the wide ranging applicability of Geohumus® for sustainable agricultural and environmental water use management practices. We welcome inquiries and suggestions for best practices of effective water use.

Geohumus® is actively seeking qualified distribution partners for its US operations. Interested companies should send their business profile and contact information to hb@geohumus.com.

*www.epa.gov/watersense