Cover Story
What Lies
Beneath: H
ave you ever experienced a dry season where rain was not in the immediate forecast and you were not absolutely certain that your irrigation ponds held enough water to cover you? As a former assistant golf course superintendent, I remember times when our irrigation lake was extremely low, and our greens could not go one more night without water. I knew that there was a good chance that I’d be hand watering them several times the next day, and each day without rain seemed to require more applied water than the one before. I knew I would soon be staring at mud in the irrigation
lake where water once was. This is not a situation that any golf course or turf manager wants to find himself (or herself) navigating, yet it seems to happen somewhere in the region every year. Along with the tremendous amount of scientific research, management techniques and cuttingedge pesticides that are available to manage turf, there are strategies and tools that are equally important to ensure that ponds are managed properly and are aesthetically pleasing to your guests, but also to maintain their capacity for one of the turf industry’s most important maintenance tasks: irrigation.
14 | Virginia Turfgrass Journal September/October 2016 www.vaturf.org
How bathymetry can help
If you have ever asked yourself, “What is the actual water-storage capacity in my irrigation pond?” or “I wonder how much water I have left to use to water my turf?” you are an ideal candidate for bathymetry. Looking below the water surface is very similar to analyzing a soil test report or evaluating the root system of your greens. Once you determine what lies beneath, you can manage the inputs and surrounding environment to maximize the output. Bathymetry, which is a study of the three-dimensional volume and bottom contours of a waterbody, can reveal a