title: Water Use and Treatment in Container-Grown Specialty Crop Production: A Review.
abstract: While governments and individuals strive to maintain the availability of high-quality water resources, many factors can "change the landscape" of water availability and quality, including drought, climate change, saltwater intrusion, aquifer depletion, population increases, and policy changes. Specialty crop producers, including nursery and greenhouse container operations, rely heavily on available high-quality water from surface and groundwater sources for crop production. Ideally, these growers should focus on increasing water application efficiency through proper construction and maintenance of irrigation systems, and timing of irrigation to minimize water and sediment runoff, which serve as the transport mechanism for agrichemical inputs and pathogens. Rainfall and irrigation runoff from specialty crop operations can contribute to impairment of groundwater and surface water resources both on-farm and into the surrounding environment. This review focuses on multiple facets of water use, reuse, and runoff in nursery and greenhouse production including current and future regulations, typical water contaminants in production runoff and available remediation technologies, and minimizing water loss and runoff (both on-site and off-site). Water filtration and treatment for the removal of sediment, pathogens, and agrichemicals are discussed, highlighting not only existing understanding but also knowledge gaps. Container-grown crop producers can either adopt research-based best management practices proactively to minimize the economic and environmental risk of limited access to high-quality water, be required to change by external factors such as regulations and fines, or adapt production practices over time as a result of changing climate conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, E-143 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson, SC 29634-0310 USA.
authors.forename: John C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Majsztrik
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Plant and Soil Science Building, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 USA.
authors.forename: R Thomas
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.affiliation: Environmental Horticulture Department, University of Florida, 2549 Fifield Hall, PO Box 110670, Gainesville, FL 32611-0670 USA.
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Department of Agricultural Sciences, Baruch Institute of Coastal Ecology and Forest Science, Clemson University, Georgetown, SC 29440 USA.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hitchcock
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Maryland, 2120 Plant Sciences Bldg., College Park, MD 20742-4452 USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lea-Cox
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), 1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23455 USA.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Owen
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616-8780 USA.
authors.forename: Lorence R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Oki
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, E-143 Poole Agricultural Center, Clemson, SC 29634-0310 USA.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: White
keywords: Greenhouse; Irrigation; Nitrogen; Nursery; Phosphorus; Plant pathogens; Remediation; Sediment; Water conservation; Water quality; Water treatment