Solving the Salty Dilemma | Our Lady of Guadalupe

After digging the well at Our Lady of Guadalupe Vineyard, Amy Whiteford’s team discovered the water’s high salinity made it unfit for vineyard irrigation.

Plants take up water and nutrients but leave salt behind in the soil. When salt builds up, vine growth, yield, and quality suffer.

Amy traveled to the Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California, where farmers face the same issue. She met an organic vegetable grower who used reverse osmosis (RO) to treat their water.

She returned to California inspired, and partnered with an avocado farmer in San Diego to develop a proprietary RO system for OLG Vineyard.

While this solved her water quality issue, Amy had a new problem – what would she do with the salt-laden wastewater?

After considering various disposal options, Amy and her team found an innovative solution.

They ran trials with salt-tolerant plants and discovered that Jose Grass thrives on their salty wastewater.

Today, the vineyard’s hillside thrives with Jose Grass, solving the wastewater disposal problem while also reducing soil erosion and increasing biodiversity across the property.