What is the pain point in your farm? What are the difficulties you experience in terms of water?
The lack of rain, really, and run off. All of our dams nearly run dry apart from probably 2 or 3 and then we need this water to water our sheep and for our houses basically.
And how deep do you dig your well?
My bore is 40 meters into the ground, but the water sits 15 meters from the top.
And what kind of water is it?
It’s 13.000ppm, which is not too salty.
And what difficulties are you facing with the sheep?
Well if we didn’t have this desalination plant, we would have to sell our sheep.
How many sheep do you have?
About 2,500 to 3,000. I would have to sell all of them, because there was no water left.
And the sheep farm, is it for wool or for meat?
Both.
Where do you sell it to?
We sell our wool in Perth and our meat goes through a livestock agent who sells them. Most of it this year went to South Australia.
What do you expect now from this machine?
Fresh water, I’m growing a nice lawn on the house now for my four kids and my wife. And have plenty of water and not stress about water for ourselves and for our stock. Producing our own stock water will be a big thing for us. And also for the household for drinking water.
Jeremy Dean (right) and Martin Brezger (left) inspecting Jeremy’s new desalination unit one last time before they make their way to the farm.
How did you hear about Moerk Water?
About 12 months ago I started looking on the internet for desalination and I came across you guys and a couple of other companies, and then I went to the Dowerin Field Days where I saw Martin and I said what I wanted he said yes. I was going to do it using a diesel generator but it would have been too expensive and Martin said, we will use solar and that is how we decided on solar. So that is what made me choose Martin.
And what was your experience handling the contract and the details?
Fantastic. Smooth. Very well. I said what I wanted and Martin and Andrew were fantastic.
What do you think your neighbours will think?
Well I’ve got probably about 15 farmers that want to come to have a look. There are 2 or 3 farmers who are seriously looking into the same as what we got. So, it is getting desperate. There are lots of farmers we know who are going to be carting water for their sheep. So, there are lots of farmers who are very interested in desalination technology.
And the weather change, the rainwater patterns and everything you think might change in the future?
Well yes, we are getting less rain every year.
And what do you expect in the future from Moerk Water?
Bigger desal, who knows, I got a lot of water down there and who knows what is in the future.
A talk with Farmer Jeremy Dean
Wheat and sheep farmer in South Burracoppin, 25km south east of Merredin.
Bringing the unit to Jeremy’s farm in South Burracoppin!
