Free water testing at this weekend’s Te Puke A&P Show

Dell Bawden with the testing unit. Photo / Supplied

Water isn’t something there has been a shortage of recently — so there should be plenty to be tested at this weekend’s Te Puke A&P Show.

Members of a small group have decided to volunteer their time at the show to provide an independent water testing service for anyone who wants to take along a sample.

Horticulturalists Ross and Dell Bawden have developed a wetland on their property and bought a nitrogen testing unit so they could monitor the impact of the wetland on nitrogen levels in the water.

They will take the unit along to the show so farmers, other horticulturists and landowners can do their own test.

“We are just horticulturalists who are interested, we’ve got no barrow to push,” says Dell. “We just want people to at least know what their readings are.”

She says around a cup of water should be plenty to do a test and advises that the container used be rinsed in the same water the sample is taken from to avoid an inaccurate reading.

The unit does not keep a record of readings, and with a little instruction, people will be able to do the test themselves.

The nitrogen testing unit that will be available for testing water samples at Te Puke A&P Show. Photo / Supplied

“The machine just has a place where you pour the water, wait for a few minutes until the light stops flashing and there’s a number on the screen, and that’s your reading.

“Only people who see the screen will know the results.”

Normally, to get a test reading it would be necessary to send a sample away, but there will be no charge to test water at the show.

Dell says results will provide a good indication of nitrogen levels, but couldn’t be used, for example, in a court case.

She says the Bawdens have been using the unit for a few months.

“When it rains, it gives us a handle on things. We’ve not put nitrogen on the kiwifruit for a while. We are just monitoring [the wetland] to see what’s happening.”

At Saturday’s show, Farmland’s regional technical officer Dwayne Farrington, Harrison Ward from Ballance Agrinutrients and independent fresh water ecologist Meredith Davis will be on hand to offer feedback and information to anyone wanting it.