Project title
The impact of winery wastewater for irrigation of vineyards on soils, crop growth and wine quality

Project leader
Myburgh, P A

Institution
ARC Infruitec-Nietvoorbij

Team members
Myburgh, P A
Hunter, J J
Fourie, J C
Du Plessis, K
Volschenk, C G
Meyer, A
Shange, P
Lategan, E L
Fouche, G W
Ochse, C H
Van Huyssteen, I
Freitag, K
De Voss, R
Cwala, Y

Project description
International requirements, as well as national legislation, are putting pressure on wine producers regarding the responsible management of winery wastewater, which may have large-scale detrimental impact on the environment. This already led to technological innovation with regard to the treatment of winery wastewater. This is not necessarily a sustainable solution, as wastewater treatment may result in high energy use and emission of greenhouse gasses, contributing to global warming. With our current electricity shortage in South Africa, further difficulties may arise due to the high energy demand required for treatment. The wine industry has co-funded various projects in the past to develop technology that will contribute to responsible management of wastewater, and more particular, use of winery wastewater by means of crop irrigation. Currently, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry is drafting new legislation aimed at wineries, to allow beneficial crop irrigation as a General Authorization. In the Western Cape wine industry, most vineyards need irrigation and the ideal situation would be to implement a sustainable use of winery wastewater for wine grape irrigation by adding winery wastewater to existing irrigation water resources. This practice has already been performed by various wineries for decades and it is believed that there is little or no impact on wine quality and character as a result of this. Until now, the impact of this practice has, however, not been studied comprehensively. Adding winery wastewater to our current irrigation water (augmentation) may well become a necessity in the future with current water shortages becoming more and more an alarming reality. However, the pollution of underground water is strictly monitored and should be prevented at all cost. Thus, to know the impact of irrigating with winery wastewater on the chemical composition and physical structure of the soil, grapevine performance, and wine quality, is indispensable. It is envisaged that irrigating vineyards with irrigation water with added winery wastewater may alter the wine character and overall quality, compared to vineyards irrigated with clean irrigation water. The project will be a multidisciplinary study to evaluate the impact of augmented winery wastewater on vineyard soils, vineyard performance and determining wine quality differences, if any, due to varying irrigation water quality as the main objective.

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