Pennsylvania Golf Course Water Survey
Summary: Before judging the quality of irrigation water sources, it is important to consider the turfgrass-soil system at each golf course. If the course accepts water during irrigation and rainfall without puddling, the first step in course evaluation is complete – hydraulic conductivity and drainage are adequate. With good infiltration and drainage, soils can be amended using a variety of products to provide turfgrasses with a healthy growing medium. If puddling occurs easily during irrigation or rainfall, the turf-soil system may be more difficult to manage and both water and soil testing will be needed to determine the cause of the poor water movement. This water survey provides only a portion of the results needed to evaluate golf course turfgrass systems.
Based upon the results of this survey, the majority of the irrigation waters will benefit from an increase in salinity to improve penetration of the water into the soil. Pure water sources with a total dissolved salt content of less than 320 ppm do not easily infiltrate soils and frequently benefit from injection of gypsum or acid to increase the salt content of the water. The advantage of gypsum injection is the concomitant reduction of the water SAR as a result of calcium delivered in the gypsum. Acid injection is not recommended because there is no residual sodium carbonate in any of the samples and the resulting benefits are not as great as injection of gypusm.
The guidelines and summary data provided below only address water quality issues – consideration of soil chemistry is needed to complete the analysis. Five irrigation water sources were identified:
- Domestic: Good quality water that is slightly too pure to infiltrate soils effectively. The average domestic water will benefit from gypsum injection to improve the salinity of the water and the cation balance.
- Recycled: The recycled water is the most problematic due to the elevated level of nitrogen. The 8 ppm nitrate nitrogen will potentially provide excessive nitrogen during the Docket # 03100302_water.doc 01/10/04 page 2 season that will result in excessive growth and potentially increased susceptibility to diseases such as gray leaf spot.
- Lake: The lake waters are similar to stream and well water samples. Elevated iron levels at 0.4 ppm suggest that some pipe scaling might occur. The lake water will benefit from injection of gypsum to increase the salinity and to reduce the SAR of the water.
- Stream: Stream waters are very similar to lake and well waters
- Well: Well waters are very similar to lake and stream waters
No serious problems were identified for any of the water sources. The most common water quality problem is the modest requirement for gypsum injection to increase the salinity of the water to improve penetration into the soil surface. Further evaluation of soil conditions at each course and rainfall patterns will help provide a complete picture.
Printable version of full report
Cooperators: Mike Fidanza Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, Larry Stowell, Ph.D.
Sponsors: Participating golf course superintendent’s, Pennsylvania State University, PACE Turfgrass Research Institute
Turfgrass Research at Fairbanks Ranch Country Club
Fairbanks Ranch Country Club was the site of a multi-year study evaluating the impact of poor quality irrigaiton water and various overseeding management practices on Tifway II bermuda and SeaIsle I paspalum performance. The publications below were prepared from this research. The trial utilized native soils at Fairbanks Ranch and installation of a salinity gradient irrigation system that utilized the poor quality well water, good quality domestic water and a combiantion of these two water sources.
Turfgrass varieties evaluated include: Tifway II bermudagrass, SeaIsle I paspalum, Brightstar II ryegrass, Charger II ryegrass, 2 SLX ryegrass, Bonsai tall fescue, Tomahawk E tall fescue.
January 30, 2001 Status Report
Progress in warm season turf management
Principal investigators: Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D. and Larry Stowell, Ph.D., CPAg
Cooperators: Brian Darrock, Mike Ashworth, Jose Guzman, Brian Sandland, Fairbanks Ranch Country Club
Sponsors: Fairbanks Ranch Country Club, Southern California GCSA, San Diego GCSA, Hi-Lo GCSA, California State GCSA
Spring, seed or sod from: Ronnie Duncan, Ph.D. University of Georgia, West Coast Turf, Palm Desert, CA, John Rector, Turf-Seed Inc.
Runoff water monitoring at Dove Canyon Country Club
Summary: Irrigation water and runoff water was monitored for three years at Dove Canyon Country Club to evaluate the impact of the golf course on down-stream water quality. When compared to the reclaimed irrigation water used throughout the development and the golf course, the runoff water was significantly lower in nitrates, total phosphorus, and total organic halogens. Oil and grease, total organic carbon, pH, and electrical conductivity of the runoff water were significantly higher than the irrigation water. There was no significant difference in the concentration of ammonia, nitrites, total Kjeldahl nitrogen in the irrigation and runoff waters. These results support the value of turfgrasses in capturing nitrogen and phosphorus, two key nutrients that can lead to eutrophication of waterways. The origin of the oil and grease, organic carbon, elevated pH and inceased salinity may be the golf course or the surrounding community that also drains into the same streams.
Printable version of full report
Principal Investigator: Larry Stowell, Ph.D.
Cooperator: Eric Lover, Dove Canyon Country Club
Sponsor: Dove Canyon Country Club
