· Posted by Dennis O’Brien, Public Affairs Specialist, Agricultural Research Service in Research and Science. Aug 02, 2021. ARS scientists in St. Paul, Minnesota, and their partners at the University of Minnesota are helping to protect waterways by minimizing runoff from the nation’s golf courses. Photo by Pamela Rice.
How do golf courses affect water? The average golf course uses 312 gallons of water per day for maintenance of the grounds. As this water flows through the property, it can pick up contaminants such as petroleum, pesticides, and fertilizers.
· Nonpoint source pollution is any source where runoff does not go directly into a waterway. Nonpoint sources of runoff can be large urban, suburban, or rural areas. In these areas, rainwater and irrigation wash chemicals into local streams. Runoff from nonpoint sources includes lawn fertilizer, car exhaust, and even spilled gasoline from a car. Farms are a huge …
The average golf course uses 312 gallons of water per day for maintenance of the grounds. As this water flows through the property, it can pick up contaminants such as petroleum, pesticides, and fertilizers.
High-quality turf on golf courses is maintained with fertilizer, irrigation and pesticide inputs. As a result, they are perceived as significant contributors to water pollution.
Excessive irrigation can affect water quality by causing erosion, transporting nutrients, pesticides, and heavy metals, or decreasing the amount of water that flows naturally in streams and rivers. It can also cause a buildup of selenium, a toxic metal that can harm waterfowl reproduction.
As agricultural runoff enters bodies of water it can have negative impacts on the environment. Not only can it contaminate sources of drinking water but the chemicals in the fertilizers can be absorbed into aquatic plants, contribute to algae blooms and effect animals' ability to find food and reproduce.
The pollutants that could originate from a golf course, subdivision and farmland are organic matter such as grass clippings, fertilizer runoff containing nitrogen and phosphorus, and animal waste.
The construction of surface transportation facilities creates impervious surfaces which can harm water quality in a number of ways including: Runoff from roadways, runways, and parking lots can produce increased pollutant loadings to wetlands and streams unless the runoff is treated.
By definition, fertilizer runoff is the displacement of fertilizer components, via rainwater and mechanical irrigation, from their intended use on a residential or commercial site, to local water sheds and reservoirs.
Runoff picks up fertilizer, oil, pesticides, dirt, bacteria and other pollutants as it makes its way through storm drains and ditches - untreated - to our streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean. Polluted runoff is one of the greatest threats to clean water in the U.S.
Stormwater runoff can cause a number of environmental problems: Fast-moving stormwater runoff can erode stream banks, damaging hundreds of miles of aquatic habitat. Stormwater runoff can push excess nutrients from fertilizers, pet waste and other sources into rivers and streams.
The usage of organic fertilizers results in the discharge of nitrate, potassium and phosphates that pollute the water. The contamination of groundwater occurs as a result of leaching due to nitrate. The ground and surface waters are infested with heavy metals, whose concentration poses a threat to humans and animals.
Increased levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer and manure can stimulate algal blooms in lakes and rivers, which can lead to the development of hypoxic (low oxygen) conditions that are harmful to aquatic life. Algae can also affect recreational uses of local streams, downstream reservoirs, and estuaries.
When the excess nutrients from all the fertilizer we use runs off into our waterways, they cause algae blooms sometimes big enough to make waterways impassable. When the algae die, they sink to the bottom and decompose in a process that removes oxygen from the water.
The researchers measured concentrations of five different pesticides in the runoff and found that HTCC absorbed more runoff than verticutting and was even superior to the combination of verticutting and HTCC, possibly because verticutting can compact the soil at points where the mower blades cut into it.
Verticutting involves running a mower with vertical blades into the turf to lightly penetrate the soil, opening it up for air and water to filter through. Both practices are common for controlling thatch and loosening up the soil to increase infiltration of rainwater.
Many golf courses are near homes, and golf course managers want to be good neighbors, according to Michael P. Kenna, who oversees the USGA’s turfgrass and environmental research. “Golf courses can be surrounded by hundreds, or even thousands, of people living right alongside them, so it’s important to us that they’re managed in an environmentally ...
ARS scientists in St. Paul, Minnesota, and their partners at the University of Minnesota are helping to protect waterways by minimizing runoff from the nation’s golf courses. Photo by Pamela Rice.
to take material, such as food or medicine, into a body.
able to produce crops or sustain agriculture.
Stormwater runoff is the runoff drained into creeks, bays, and other water sources after a storm. Stormwater runoff includes all debris, chemicals, and other pollutants picked up by the rain or snow. to soak up. the strategy of applying profit-making practices to the operation of farms and ranches.
Soil acts as a natural sponge, filter ing and absorbing many harmful chemicals. Communities can plant native vegetation. Shrubs and other plants prevent erosion and runoff from going into waterways. Toxic runoff can pollute surface waters, like rivers and lakes, as well as seep into underground groundwater supplies.
Runoff is an economic threat, as well as an environmental one. Agribusiness loses millions of dollars to runoff every year. In the process of erosion, runoff can carry away the fertile layer of topsoil. Farmers rely on topsoil to grow crops. Tons of topsoil are lost to runoff every year.
This process in which the concentration of a substance increases as it passes up the food chain is called biomagnification . Biomagnification means organisms high on the food chain, including people, have a higher concentration of pollutants in their bodies than organisms such as seagrass or algae.
Tiny microbe s, such as plankton or algae, absorb pollutant s in the runoff. Fish or shellfish consume the microbes or absorb the pollutants directly. Animals such as birds consume the fish, increasing the level of pollutants in their own bodies.