The pressure drop thing is a great idea!
This is what I did ... an idea spawned from a post by another member here on HR.com.
It seems to work very well. Very little condensate even makes it as far as the filter.
What you can't see in this pic are 4 ball valves and a small "manifold" to collect and drain any water that gets trapped in any of the legs of the cooling tower.
It's all plumbed using 1/2"copper water line, and uses truck air-brake hoses to isolate the vibration from the compressor.