Harnessing the wind

Rocky Tharp, superintendent at Interbay GC, turned to a windmill aeration system as an environmentally friendly method to eradicate algae from a pond on the course. Photo courtesy of Rocky Tharp

Darcy DeVictor

Teeming with such waterfowl native to the Pacific Northwest as ducks and Canada geese, the 5,000-square-foot pond at Interbay Golf Course in Seattle has seen its share of algae.

The pond is small and shallow — traits that make it especially attractive to birds, whose waste is an additional contributor to algae growth, says Rocky Tharp, superintendent and Class A GCSAA member at Interbay GC.

Because the nine-hole municipal course, part of the Seattle Parks Department, is half-way through the process of earning certification through Audubon International, impact on the environment is a chief concern for Tharp, who set out to improve the conditions of the pond this spring without using chemicals such as algaecides, copper sulfate and other aquatic herbicides.

The six-year GCSAA member had tried beneficial organisms as alternatives to chemicals without much success and, looking for a cost-effective approach, turned to a relative newcomer to the world of aeration systems — the windmill.

He’s not the only one. Because of its cost economy and environmentally friendly factor, the windmill has been a recent discovery for the golf course market, says Alan Goode, sales director for Saskatchewan, Canada-based Koenders Windmills.

“Up until recently, superintendents were happy just to have electric aeration, or they would put chemicals in,” Goode says. “But electricity is never going to get that cheap again and nobody likes putting in chemicals. Everyone’s getting more environmentally friendly.”

Superintendents consequently have found themselves in a Catch-22 when it comes to pond and lake management — either use increasingly expensive electricity or increasingly unacceptable chemicals. The windmill aeration system offers an alternative to both and also helps rid bodies of water of mosquitoes and other insects, Goode adds.

The windmill system works by capturing a rotary motion from the wind and converting it into a reciprocating motion. It then pumps a diaphragm, which pumps air into the reservoir of water. Constant aeration can keep a pond fresh by pulling water down from the top, across the bottom and then up as a column of air, continuously oxygenating the water.

Tharp says installing the windmill took two people and about a day. He installed it up to 1,000 feet and ran a half-inch airline from the windmill to the pond. The price is what most enticed Tharp, in addition to the device’s ability to stand alone without the need to run electricity and its environmental benefits.

So far, he says, it’s working as advertised, though he hesitated to speak to its effectiveness since it was only installed a couple of months ago. Once more concrete results are available, Tharp plans on spreading the word on the new golf course feature through press releases via the parks department, a weekly newsletter and the clubhouse bulletin board.

“There’s a big focus on the environment right now, so (we’re doing) anything we can do to let the public know we’re trying,” he says. 

Darcy DeVictor is GCM’s associate editor.