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Golf Course Water Efficiency Introduction

For many water utilities, golf courses are their customers with the highest water usage, especially during
the seasonal peak when utilities are struggling to meet water demands.

Water conservation opportunities

are considerable and economically advantageous for the utility seeking to reduce peak demands.

One of

the greatest impediments to achieving water savings in this sector is the common disconnect between the
person that pays the water bills, the owner(s), the course manager, and the various contractors that

maintain the facility and equipment. Water saving potential is enormous, but successful implementation
requires a cooperative effort from everyone involved.

Landscape Irrigation

The quality of a golf course is often defined by the quality of the landscape, and maintaining the quality is
very difficult. The vast areas of turf are under constant assault from golfers and carts trampling the

vegetation. The hilly terrain makes applying water and water retention difficult. Irrigation must occur

during limited evening hours; station schedules are determined more by available watering times than the

water absorption rate of soils. The irregular shape of courses makes irrigation uniformity very difficult. All

these issues can lead to excessive water use, especially where the golf course is located in regions with arid
climates.

Turf requires an average of 25 to 60 inches (63.5 cm to 152.4 cm) of water annually, depending on

climate, to maintain a healthy appearance. Most of this water is required during summer months (1.5 to 2
inches per week (3.8 cm to 5.08 cm), when rainfall is lowest, often totaling less than 0.5 inch per week
(1.3 cm). Unlike trees and shrubs, turf grasses have very little capacity to store water and withstand

periods of drought. Golf course turf usually needs water applied at least twice per week in the summer.
Any deficit in rainfall must be supplemented with irrigation. A typical golf course requires 100,000 to

1,000,000 gallons (378.5 m to 3,785 m ) of water per week in summer to maintain healthy vegetation.
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Improving the water efficiency usually requires proper scheduling of the irrigation and improving irrigation
uniformity. A water audit, conducted by a trained professional, is required to determine the proper

equipment needed (spray heads, water pressure regulators, controller, etc.) and a schedule based on the
evapotranspiration rate of the vegetation. Weather based irrigation controllers (WBIC) can automatically
adjust irrigation schedules to local conditions, but must be installed and set up properly to achieve any

water savings. Irrigation equipment only provides the tools for water efficiency; the tools must be used
properly.

Water audits performed across the country suggest that many golf courses use 20% to 50% more irrigation
water than necessary. Reducing this overuse can save many golf courses 50,000 to 500,000 gallons per
year (190 to 1,893 m ), or more. Specific savings are highly dependent on climate and pre-existing
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equipment. A professional water audit is required to reasonably estimate water savings potential at any
given golf course.

Reclaimed Water

Where the local wastewater treatment agency provides reclaimed water (wastewater treated to drinking

water standards, though deemed non-potable), golf courses provide an excellent opportunity to supplant
potable water use with reclaimed water use.

Landscape irrigation is the most obvious opportunity to use

this water, especially fairways and surrounding roughs. It is important to note some vegetation for the
greens cannot tolerate the high total dissolved solids levels of reclaimed water.

Reclaimed water can also

be used to supply water to toilets and urinals. Depending on the water quality requirements, many cooling
towers can also use reclaimed water rather than potable water.

In all applications, the reclaimed water must be strictly separated from potable water sources and end-

uses. This requires a clear separation of pipes supplying water to the end use (irrigation system, toilets,
urinals, cooling tower, etc) from pipes supplying potable water to faucets, drinking fountains, etc.

Irrigation systems are usually on separate meters and water supplies, thus this is the most common
application for reclaimed water use.

The water supply pipes for toilets and urinals are often interconnected with faucets and drinking water
fountains requiring extensive plumbing system retrofits if reclaimed water is to be used.

Retrofitting a

pre-existing plumbing system inside an office building is usually too costly to justify the use of reclaimed
water to flush sanitary fixtures.

When constructing new facilities, the cost to separate the water supply pipes for sanitary fixtures is
marginal.

Many water agencies are now requiring new commercial buildings to be dual plumbed so that

reclaimed water can be used to flush sanitary fixtures, even if reclaimed water is not immediately

available. Commercial property developers report this has added less than 15% to the total cost of the
plumbing system.

Storm Water Collection and Use

Collecting the storm water or rainwater on the building site (roof, parking lot, hardscape, landscape, etc.) is
one of the fastest growing strategies in the water conservation industry and green building efforts.
are three distinct advantages to this strategy:

There

The collected water can be stored and then used to irrigate the landscape during drier months.

 The water collected is prevented from entering the storm water system, which is often overtaxed in
urban areas resulting in flash floods.

The pollutants from the building site (fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, animal waste, automobile

fluids, etc.) are prevented from being carried by storm water to streams, rivers, and other sensitive
aquatic ecosystems.

Many golf courses include water retention ponds to capture landscape run-off and provide water features

on the course. These ponds can often be utilized to store water collected from the parking lots and roofs of
buildings. When excess water is available in the ponds, the water can be pumped to use for irrigation.

Restroom Fixtures

Restroom fixtures should also be evaluated for conservation measures. Public restroom audits will help

determine the feasibility and benefits of replacing restroom fixtures. Golfers and other visitors to the facility
will add significantly to the daily flush counts: estimated at 1 to 3 flushes per golf round. Golf, like many

sports activities, tends to induce the participants to increase their intake of liquids, resulting in more urinal
and toilet flushes.
Food Preparation
Many golfing facilities include restaurants, bars, and banquet services. Food preparation and dish washing
present excellent opportunities to conserve water. .

Food is often heated in conventional steamers using a central boiler; connectionless steamers use a
reservoir and condensed steam system that can save thousands of gallons of water per year.

Pre-rinse spray valves, often using as much as 4 gpm (15.1 lpm) are used to rinse dishes before they are

loaded in the dishwasher; new, efficient spray valves use only 1.2 gpm (4.54 lpm) and can save hundreds
of gallons per day depending on volume and type of meals served.

Ice machines are commonly found in food and bar service facilities. This equipment can use surprisingly

large amounts of water. Depending on the model and the settings, ice machines use 2 to 18 pounds (.91

kg to 8.2 kg) of water for every pound of ice produced. Replacing water-cooled ice machines with air-cooled
models can result in significant water savings.

The water efficiency of commercial dishwashers also varies greatly. The high cost of these machines often
impairs the benefit-cost ratio of early replacement; but as older dishwashers fail, high efficiency models
should be installed as replacements.

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