 |
Presented in partnership with Aquatrols YOUR WATER
|
Using re-use water
 |
Ventana Canyon Golf & Racquet Club in Tucson, Ariz., irrigates with effluent water. Photo by Wally Dowe |
Irrigating your golf course with recycled (re-use/ reclaimed/ effluent) water is good, right? You help the planet by not irrigating with potable water. You might save your course some money (in some areas, re-use water is provided to golf courses without cost). What’s not to love? The results of surveys published in the online journal Applied Turfgrass Science (www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/ats/) shed some light on the experiences of superintendents in Florida and Texas who use reclaimed water for irrigating from tee to green and beyond.
In November 1999, John Cisar, Ph.D., from the University of Florida’s Fort Lauderdale campus, headed a team that conducted a survey of 150 superintendents in central Florida. Eight years later, in spring and summer 2007, Rich Dixon, Ph.D., and Daniel Ray of the department of geography at Texas State University in San Marcos, conducted a similar survey of 487 Texas superintendents. Questions in the Texas survey were designed to provide some of the same information that had been collected in the Florida survey in order to compare the findings of the two studies.
In Florida, 85 of the 150 surveys were returned (a 57 percent response rate), and 46 (54 percent) of those 85 superintendents used reclaimed water. In Texas, 150 of the 487 surveys were returned (31 percent response rate), and 40 superintendents (27 percent) said they were using reclaimed water at their golf courses.
Despite the eight-year gap and the geographic distance between the two surveys, the results showed many similarities. Superintendents in both states reported similar problems resulting from reclaimed water use. In both Texas and Florida, survey-takers ranked salinity or high sodium as the worst problem. Respondents considered algae growth the second-worst problem in the Texas survey and third-worst in the Florida survey. Clogged irrigation heads and equipment rust ranked third and fourth in Texas, but “mechanical problems” — most often the same clogged sprinkler heads and increased rust — ranked second in Florida. Another common finding was that golfer complaints were “not considered a problem” in Florida and were ranked as the “least important” problem in Texas.
Finally, the superintendents surveyed clearly agree that the problems associated with using reclaimed water are manageable because 85 percent of the superintendents in Florida and 83 percent of those in Texas using reclaimed water said that they would continue to do so if the decision were theirs.
The second survey in GCSAA’s Golf Course Environmental Profile covers water use and conservation on golf courses across the U.S. and will provide more up-to-date information about the various water sources golf courses use and the quality of that water. Preliminary results of that survey were published in the June issue of GCM (“Water works,” Page 66) and full results will be released later this year.
The Irrigation Association and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service have extended their partnership originated by a memorandum of understanding in 2003. The memorandum recognizes that IA-certified irrigation designers with a specialty in sprinkler, surface and/or drip-micro meet NRCS certification criteria to provide technical assistance to producers on behalf of the USDA. To serve as a technical service provider, a designer must perform work that meets NRCS standards and specifications for effective water management. The process recognizes IA as a recommending organization for irrigation water conveyance, irrigation system application and irrigation water management. A draft strategy from the EPA describes the potential effects of climate change on clean water, drinking water and ocean protection programs and outlines the EPA’s actions to respond to the effects. The National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change focuses on actions designed to help managers adapt water programs in response to a changing climate. The document also includes information on improving education for water program professionals and the steps needed for strengthening the ties between climate research and water programs. Visit www.epa.gov/water/climatechange for more information. |
