WATER MANAGEMENT
Conserving water for the fut It’s official – fresh water supplies are dwindling, demand for water is steadily rising, and regulations on how much and for what purpose water can be used are becoming increasingly tightened. Finding ways to use water more efficiently is no longer an environmental nice to have; it’s a fact of life for most courses today and imperative for our industry’s future. As a turf manager you’ll always need water – it’s a fundamental building block of turf – but there are a number of steps you can take to influence how much water you need. New course designs utilise contours and land features to guide water and minimise irrigation requirements. While this is certainly easier
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to do when building from scratch, existing courses can also make small changes on their properties that can equate to big savings. One of the biggest potential impacts on your water consumption can be made by redirecting water that already exists. Think of the amount of rainfall that lands outside of turf areas on your property over the course of the year. You can recoup some of this “lost” water by creating contours within the course layout, as well as using strategic grading and curb cuts on hard surfaces such as buggy paths and parking areas to collect run-off and channel it to storage areas. Even rainfall redirected from roofing surfaces can be a good source of “extra” water.
Plant selection can also play an important role in how much water is needed to keep your property at its visual best. Choose turf varieties such as fine fescues that require less water than others such as perennial ryegrass. Other water-saving strategies include naturalising areas that are not part of regular play, and landscaping with native plants that thrive under local conditions. This also reduces the energy and labour required for maintenance, and the effect can be visually stunning. Even with these changes, irrigation is still essential and ongoing maintenance of your irrigation system is an effective way to reduce the amount of water wasted. Moisture sensors, weather monitors and other hightech tools are also available to help you use your water conservatively. By combining information on the actual moisture status of your soils with evapotranspiration and expected rainfall, these tools can help you maintain quality growing conditions with the least amount of water necessary. Even after irrigation, there is still one more hurdle to getting water to your turf as efficiently as possible: your soil. How well your soil performs can have a tremendous impact on how much water you use. Soil:water repellency interferes with how even the most well-placed water moves, leaving some areas a little too dry while making some a little too wet. This is certainly not a new phenomenon, but research indicates that it is much more common than previously thought. Telltale signs of water repellency issues include erratic wetting patterns and localised dry spots, but not all water movement issues can be seen at the surface.
How well your soil performs can have a tremendous impact on how much water you use. Water droplet penetration tests and sampling with a soil moisture probe can give you a better idea of issues below the surface that may be impacting the amount of water you use. Water repellency is one of the most pervasive water use issues, and it is also one of the easiest and most cost-effective to fix. Soil surfactants lower the surface tension of water and restore the wettability of effected soils, allowing water to move into and through the profile more efficiently. This reduces the amount of water lost to run-off and preferential flow. In fact, using surfactants as part of an ongoing maintenance program can reduce the amount of water needed by 20% – 50% without negatively impacting turf quality. “Revolution is one of the very few products that makes a dramatic difference and actually changes the way turf is managed. It affects everything including the turf, the distribution of water, fertilisers, and other materials,” said Sam Rhodes, Woodhall Spa GC. Most courses have best management practices in place for their properties, but not all commit them to paper in a formal document. There are a number of resources available that provide guidance and templates for creating one, but should you bother? Absolutely. Best management practice is more than just a piece of paper; it is a communication