FEATURES
Rainwater Irrigation

by Rocky Womack
Could this alternative water source work on your course?

Photo Courtesy of Rainwater Management Solutions.

A roof collection system for rainwater harvesting involves using gutters and downspouts to capture the water as it runs down into an underground filtering system.

With water at a premium for golf courses in areas that are facing severe droughts, superintendents and course management are looking for ways to conserve. One option is to collect and store rainwater.

The concept can benefit superintendents and golf courses across the United States, especially those that rely on municipal water when the demand for H₂O exceeds the supply.

Golf courses often rely on nearby public and natural water supplies. As their demand for water grows, golf facilities will experience more competition for water from homeowners and commercial businesses, suggests Tamim Younos, associate director of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center on the campus of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va. “Capturing rainwater will decrease the golf course water demand on water supplies and other sources and will be a good move toward water conservation and reduce conflict with other uses such as ecosystem services.

“Also, initial investment on a rainwater harvesting system will eliminate the possibility for paying more for water supplies in the future, as the water cost from centralized systems is expected to go higher in the future,” he adds. “An indirect advantage would be energy savings. Conventional and centralized systems, particularly pipe and pump-water distribution, are energy intensive. Our limited research shows that rainwater harvesting systems use less energy in the long term.”

Photo by Rocky Womack. Adrienne LaBranche Tucker, an irrigation consultant with Rainwater Management Solutions in Salem, Va., says interest in rainwater collection has grown, including golf courses, which can capture the water and use it for irrigating greens, cleaning equipment and even flushing toilets in the clubhouse.

Peaked interest

While more common overseas in places such as Germany and Australia, this technique of collecting water is gaining popularity in the United States. “There’s a lot of interest in rainwater harvesting, and the research behind it in the United States is still trying to catch up to the demand for rainwater,” says Adrienne LaBranche Tucker, an irrigation consultant with Rainwater Manage­­ment Solutions in Salem, Va.

Currently, LaBranche Tucker is conducting studies for three sites, including Williamsburg Country Club in Williamsburg, Va. She is looking at the feasibility of installing rainwater systems at the course or reclaim water as an alternative water source.

“The way their site is set up, it’s kind of an indirect rainwater capture system in that all their grounds drain to a collection pond, and they irrigate from that pond,” she says. “All the sites need to drain into the pond, so any kind of rainwater runoff goes into the pond. Without having plumbing and everything, that’s one way they can collect the rainwater.”

Alternative water source

Whether the benefits of collecting rainwater offsets the set-up cost depends on the particular golf course site and its demand for water. LaBranche Tucker says the simplest and least expensive way to collect rainwater is by roof collection. Unfortunately, the most prominent building at a course is the clubhouse. The best way to utilize this nonportable water source is by irrigating practice tees and practice greens, she says, or a superintendent could capture the water for washing golf carts; cleaning mowing equipment, tractors and other grounds machinery; as well as flushing toilets in the clubhouse and maintenance shop. She says filtered rainwater can also be used to water in fertilizers and apply pesticides.

Filters used by Rainwater Management Solutions for roof collection range in cost from $1,050 for about 2,000 square feet, to a filter that can handle 33,000 square feet at a cost of about $11,000. Other costs depend on the site and needs of the course.

To deal with stormwater runoff, some golf courses may need to build (or may have built) a detention pond to collect the runoff after heavy rains. In an indirect benefit, she says rainwater harvesting can reduce the detention pond area or perhaps eliminate it, decreasing the cost or fees for capturing stormwater runoff. This is especially true if homes surround a golf course. Each homeowner or developer could have a rainwater system installed to reduce stormwater runoff, or homeowners could join forces and share in the cost of a rainwater system.

Photo by Rocky Womack.

Golf courses can make use of rainwater harvesting by collecting the water from a roof, having it run down to an existing pond such as this one, and using that water to irrigate greens and tee boxes.

What works best for each course will be different. “When we look at rainwater harvesting, we look at the supply and demand balance,” LaBranche Tucker says. In other words, what type and amount of supply is needed to meet the water demand. She says a golf course’s irrigation demands usually outweigh supply that is collected from a clubhouse roof or other on-site buildings.

Rainwater can be used as an alternative water source when there are water restrictions from a municipality or if the amount of well water available at the course has decreased. This collected water can be diverted to an on-site pond.

Another option for collecting rainwater is setting up a collection tank (or tanks) on the property. She says this will be more expensive to set up and will require not only tanks, but separate plumbing for pumping the collected water to the greens or other desired locations, but the extra cost could pay off dividends.

“If you are able to irrigate and maintain plant quality, then you can continue to have function in the playing surface,” LaBranche Tucker says.

Determining supply and demand

For those who are considering installing a rainwater capture system, LaBranche Tucker says to first look at your supply and demand balance. The demand is the amount of water used by the club, whether for irrigation or other uses. The supply is how that need is currently fulfilled.

She advises asking the following questions. Can you rely on your current water supply in the future? Is dry weather draining that resource, and will it be available when you need it? Depending on your answers, now might be a good time to start looking at alternative water sources.

Photo Courtesy of Rainwater Management Solutions.

Golf courses would need to install pre-filtering for any roof collection system to separate rainwater from any organic debris, says Adrienne LaBranche Tucker with Rainwater Management Solutions. She says the filtering system is installed underground, and downspouts are connected to the filters below ground.

The next step is determining the feasibility of installing a rainwater system and calculating whether the environmental payoffs will benefit the golf course.

Course management and superintendents might want to seek the feedback of club members. “If they are really behind it, then upping their fees may help pay for it,” LaBranche Tucker says. “Get their involvement and get their support for it, because if you’re laying down a lot of pipe, you’re going to be disrupting their play time. That may or may not go over well with members.”

To learn more about rainwater harvesting, visit Rainwater Management Solutions’ Web site at www.rainwatermanagement.com or visit the Virginia Water Resources Research Center at www.vwrrc.vt.edu.

Based in Danville, Va., Rocky Womack has been writing for more than 25 years and is a contributing writer for numerous national and international publications.