- November 23, 2024
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Bob Wierschke and Mike Jett co-developed an electrochemical water softening processor that they believe can impact home, commercial and agricultural water use. The system is currently installed on Bunnell farms, and the company just exported its first order overseas.
Bob Wierschke, a marketer and real estate agent, and Mike Jett, a water trade specialist, began kicking around water treatment ideas with a scientist friend in 2007.
The concept wasn’t new, Jett says — for decades, manufacturers have been using chemicals and magnets to remove elements from water and softening it for more efficient home/commercial use and more effective farming. But the systems never seemed to work as advertised.
Until now, they say.
With successful testing on two Bunnell farms under way, and Wierschke and Jett’s company, Aqualytic USA, shipping its first export to the Netherlands soon, the two believe they’ve cracked the water conditioning code.
“This thing reformulates the elements in the water, makes them softer, processes them,” Jett says.
It’s an electrochemical modification system that’s attached to a home, farm or condo’s main water line, he explains, a chemical- and magnet-free way to draw electrons out from water’s impurities, disallowing compounds to bind, which works as purification.
This means more efficient plumbing, no more chlorine smell in pools, no build-up on shower doors, less need for home/commercial chemical use and appliance maintenance and big changes in agriculture.
“Florida’s got some of the hardest water in the country,” Wierschke says. Florida water not only builds up salt and other toxins in soil, but leaves less room for healthy nutrients. “The bottom line is to help the farmers with their crops,” he says.
Although they’ve yet to quantify yield increases, Aqualytic USA recently conducted soil tests on two Bunnell farms. So far, they say, farmers have been raving.
“One said that the potatoes he produced were by far — those were his words: ‘by far’ — the best crop from all of his fields,” Jett says,.
Another used the system on a 45-acre land bed, which sits across the road from a twin plot that used standard irrigation. Jett said the farmer reported crops from the Aqualytic field “blew away” those from the standard system.
An orchid shop in St. Augustine also reported favorable results, in a written testimonial flier.
Aqualytic USA hooked up with a SCORE business consultant at the end of last year, who advised them and put them in touch with larger organizations. Through SCORE, Aqualytic’s information has been forwarded to the Ministry of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C.
The first Aqualytic system will also soon be installed abroad, on farms in the Netherlands, to combat the intrusion of brackish water into potato beds.
“My favorite saying is, ‘Throw the spaghetti on the wall, see what sticks,’” Wierschke says, which, in a way, is how he entered into this business field.
When he and Jett got together in 2007 and started testing, neither ever saw themselves in this industry. Now, Wierschke, a farming advocate, feels he has a mission.
“For every minute that clicks by,” he says, “we’re losing an acre of farmable land.” He cites higher and stricter federal farming regulations. Farmers are told to use less water, less fertilizer, but produce more crops, he said.
He believes Aqualytic could help.
“The thing is, we have the real thing here,” he said. “Everybody’s been looking for it, and we have the real thing here.”
Aqualytic USA started in Palm Coast in January. Toward the end of the year, Wierschke and Jett plan to hold a meeting to present their system to local farmers. When the company grows, they plan to open a distribution center in Flagler County. They are currently looking to hire distributors countrywide.
For more, visit www.aqualyticusa.com, or call 931-5056.
