It’s no secret golf course superintendents manage water better than most. Agronomy and budgets dictate it anyway. Nonetheless, it’s still essential to emphasize the importance of using water efficiently. That was the message at the third annual “Intelligent Use of Water Summit” hosted by Rain Bird at the end of August.
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The need for conservation of water has never been greater, according to Robert Glennon, professor at the University of Arizona’s Rogers College of Law.
“There is a water crisis,” Glennon says. “The government says 36 states will have a water crisis during the next 10 years. Global warming presents a challenge to future water supply, as well. There are problems with the existing water supply yet water demand increases. By 2058, the estimated population of the United States will be 413 million. Fights over water are no longer confined to the West.”
Compounding the problem, the states (in the Southwest) that are using the most water are expecting the biggest population increase in the near future, according to Joanna Kind, environmental scientist with Eastern Research Group and a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Water Sense program. The program (www.epa.gov/watersource) aims to label new products as water efficient. The products need to realize water saving on a natural level and use 20 percent less water than counterpart products.
Kind says there should be two goals in landscape water efficiency: (1.) improve the irrigation system and (2.) reduce the irrigation need.
Despite educated superintendents’ management of water, there’s still a perception from the general public that golf courses use too much and waste water. However, golf course architect John Fought, says golf courses use far less water than they did just a few years ago. Changes in golf course design have contributed to that.
“We need to push away from the ‘perfectly green all the time’ mentality,” he says. “We need to extend native areas and use drought-tolerant grasses. Paspalum is critical because it can flourish with brackish-water use.”
Fought recently designed a golf course in Utah – the Sand Hollow Golf Club – that uses reclaimed water. Even though the course isn’t completely developed yet, skeptics had thought the course would be inferior. It’s not. In fact, it’s hosting a major tournament next year.
Fought says the golf industry can do a lot better reducing the need for water.
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“There’s no question in my mind,” he says. “From a design standpoint, it’s knowing the players and where they hit the ball. We need to learn to use space better because it cuts down on construction cost and maintenance in the long term.”
Fought says reducing water use on golf courses is a case be case basis, but all courses don’t have to be wall to wall green.
“If I knew what it would take to convince American golfers that brown isn’t necessarily bad, we’d solve a lot of problems,” he says. “We need to get away from perfectly green. The owners need to go along with it, and the course has to play great – and brown can play great.”
Fought says architects and developers can learn from legendary architects because during the 1920s the golf course construction industry didn’t have the machines to move earth that it does now.
Glennon says there comes a time when you ask how much more can people give up. Because there’s no commodity charge for water in the United States, he suggests raising the rates for water use to hit people in their pocket books. The more one uses, the more he pays. He also suggests seasonal adjustment on rates, i.e., it would be more expensive to use water in summer for outdoor use. Glennon wants willing buyers and sellers to reallocate water rather than government forcing a reallocation. He also suggests developers be required to purchase new water rights.
“We need to make pricing of water appropriate,” he says. “Desalination is not a panacea.”
Additionally, products alone won’t allow people to make smart decisions regarding water use, according to Barbara Booth, director of Rain Bird’s golf and irrigation business. Rain Bird has been promoting the intelligent use of water by authoring white papers, which is an example of leadership; hosting summits; running a PR campaign; helping develop educational curriculums in schools; and training professionals in the green and irrigation industries.
As part of using water more efficiently on golf courses, Booth says it’s only a matter of time before drip irrigation is used regularly. However, the industry must over come two hurdles: (1.) because irrigation systems run on high pressure and flow lines, separate low-pressure lines would be needed; and (2.) aeration.
“We haven’t figured it out yet for useful aspects on a golf course,” she says.
Booth says irrigation-system upgrades are more difficult for superintendents to justify because they’re not visible, but the company is educating and helping superintendents make that case. GCN