DukeMed Alumni News
Fall 2007

Irrigation Innovation: Holloway
Designs Water-Saving System

By Jim Rogalski

In farming and environmental circles, Rufus M. Holloway, Jr., MD’62, HS’62-’63, dared to dream big and has built a better mousetrap.

Only, instead of catching rodents, his innovation traps something of much greater value: fresh water.

Marrying ancient principles of flood-plain irrigation with modern technology, Holloway, a retired ear, nose, and throat surgeon and an ornamental tree grower in Orlando, Fla., has developed a revolutionary large-scale irrigation system that captures and recycles rain water.

As pollution, global warming, and wastefulness continue to decrease the world’s dwindling supply of fresh water, the Holloway Irrigation System offers hope to a thirsty, environmentally sensitive planet. In 2007 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency honored Holloway with its prestigious Pisces Award for performance and innovation in environmental sustainability.

“Conventional irrigation systems are very wasteful,” says Holloway. “About 4 to 6 million gallons of water per acre per year are used with conventional systems such as overhead sprinklers.”

Holloway established the Holloway Tree Farm in central Florida in 1983 after a devastating freeze destroyed the family citrus holdings. “I thought we could do the irrigation a better way,” he says; and with the help of several state and federal grants he has succeeded.

A massive snow-white high-tech polyethylene liner is spread over 12 acres of hard-packed mildly sloping ground. It is banked on all sides and partitioned into 18 separate bays by 14-inch tall earth and concrete berms that also are covered by the impenetrable liner. The liner acts as a massive rain catcher, and gravity feeds rain water to a reservoir at the low end of the system.

Inside each bay rest hundreds of individually potted ornamental trees—
magnolia, holly, oak, to name a few. With the flick of a switch water is pumped from the reservoir into a specific bay, flooding it to the top of the pots, which have holes in the bottom to allow the plant roots to drink in the water. Thirty minutes later the water is drained from the bay and gravity-fed back to the reservoir.

The system uses only rain water so long as there is at least 30 inches of rainfall a year (most eastern states receive more than 40 inches); and it is entirely self-sustaining, with no need to tap the underground aquifer.

“We irrigate about 120 times per year as opposed to two or three times a day with overhead systems,” Holloway says. His closed-loop system saves enough water in one year to provide for the annual water needs of more than 1,000 people, he says.

Fertilizer runoff into the aquifer is nonexistent, as the high-density liner prevents leaching. Because water does not fall on the plant’s leaves and topsoil (except when it rains), there is a significant reduction of fungicide and herbicide use. The white liner reflects light under plant leaves and discourages insect infestations. Algae-eating fish keep the water in the reservoir to near drinking-water quality. Crop uniformity is improved.

“Agriculture needs to take a hard look at ways of conserving water,” Holloway says. “Any time we can prevent withdrawing water from the aquifer to irrigate crops, the more water there is for supplying the needs of the population.”

He currently is working with The University of Florida’s PhD program to further research and promote the concept of his closed loop, water-conserving irrigation system, which he has patented in the U.S., South Africa, Australia, and Mexico. The system holds patent-pending status in Canada, China, Europe, and Israel.

He also is marketing a less costly miniature version of the system for use on home patios and for the concept of rooftop gardening as it becomes more common in the U.S., China, and Europe.

He maintained his surgery practice until retiring five years ago. Holloway served as director of Medical Affairs at Orlando Regional Hospital for five years and was the first ear surgeon to perform a cochlear implant in Florida in 1985.

Holloway and his wife Betsy, WC’58, have a son Michael, MD, HS’99-’00 a physician who lives in Ocala, Fla., and who also is actively involved with the development of the Holloway Irrigation System. Thier website is www.holloway-tech.com