Reclaiming a resource

Water helps keep golf courses soft and green. With 70 percent of the earth’s surface being water, it’s hard to imagine it’s in such high demand. Because golf course superintendents can’t just siphon off gallons from the ocean, the industry has turned its sights in other directions.

Hawk Pointe installed a water reclamation plant on site to preserve potable water and make good use of water that would be otherwise wasted.

That’s where American Water – Applied Water Management enters the picture. It has introduced water reclamation plants to golf courses and is stemming the tide of disappearing water sources.

Reclaimed water isn’t suitable for human consumption, but it’s fine for human contact, according to Edmund DeVeaux, vice president of business development for Applied Water Management. Reclaimed water is effluent derived, in any part, from sewage that has been adequately treated to a high quality so it’s suitable for beneficial use. Reclaimed water use has long-term implications on the water supply. Treating and reusing water that would be used once and then wasted helps meet future water requirements.

DeVeaux says the company is looking at golf courses and beyond … including applications such as maintaining athletic fields and street sweeping.

Paul Ramina, director of grounds at Hamilton Farm Golf Club in Gladstone, N.J., is looking into the possibility of installing a water reclamation facility at his course.

“We purchase water, and it’s a big expense for us,” he says of the estimated $100,000 he shells out annually. “We’re looking at reclaimed water use and what we can do.”

Initially, Ramina plans to try it on the driving range and going from there.

Richard Cotton, owner of Hawk Pointe Golf Club in Washington, N.J., had the use of reclaimed water in mind when he began the designing and building process. Though the water reclamation plant wasn’t there when the course opened in 2000, the sizing of the ponds, and inclusion of settling ponds and grass swales for stormwater were all planned.

Cotton, who has been involved in preservation and environmental planning for years, says he purchased the land because a large housing development was in the works.

“I’m a conservationist by passion,” he says. “Golf was a way to preserve open space.”

Cotton says his goal when he implemented the plan was twofold: One, to maintain 80 percent of the land as open space, and two, that any impact created would be beneficial or stay on site – not affecting any of the course’s neighbors.

In layman’s terms, the reclamation process is fairly simple. Wastewater enters the facility and the solid material is sifted away from the liquid and chewed up. The sludge settles on the bottom of the tank, is pumped out and hauled away. The first treatment of the effluent water follows with an opportunity to manipulate the liquid – leaving in some biological nutrients or removing it all. The nitrogen is removed, then the water enters its final filtration. This can be done naturally – running through carbon, sand or coal – or via membrane technology. The last step is disinfection, and the water is ready for irrigation use.

“For the final product, we like to work with the superintendents,” DeVeaux says. “They tell us what their need is, and we manipulate the process to give them what they need.”

Cotton says the cost of the system at Hawk Pointe was $2.5 million and gets shared between the golf course, residential community and commercial businesses. Once the surrounding housing is complete – phase one of 120 units is finished, and phase two’s 83 units have begun – the cost to the course will be nothing.

And there are benefits beyond the cost savings, Cotton says.

“Taking potable water in northern New Jersey, where there is water in quantity, but there is such a demand, the quality takes a hit,” he says. “We maintain extremely high water quality so the old effluent issues and fears go away.”

As for the actual facility having a negative effect on the aesthetics of the course, that’s not a problem. Hawk Pointe’s reclamation plant fits into its surroundings nicely. The structure looks like a barn. That’s by design, according to DeVeaux.

“One thing we pride ourselves on when we do on-site systems is try to let the structure blend into the surroundings,” he says. “People don’t even know there’s a wastewater treatment site there.”

Though New Jersey doesn’t require courses to limit use of potable water statewide – there are critical zones in the state where usage is closely monitored – states such as Arizona and California are tightly regulated.

Cotton says the big issues facing the golf industry are player participation and the environment.

“I don’t think it’s too far away, as demand for potable water grows, that the pressure on golf courses will increase,” he says.

Cotton suggests other courses conduct water reclamation research and not be afraid to get involved in conservation. Hamilton Farm is doing that with the feasibility study.

“We want to work as much as we can with the environment and do our part,” Ramina says. “I’m excited about it and looking toward the future to see what we can do.” GCN