billion gallons of water per day for golf course irrigation in the U.S. According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s “Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000” report, approximately 408 billion gallons of water per day are withdrawn in the U.S. Golf course irrigation accounts for 0.5 percent of this total.
Apr 11, 2016 · Golf courses in cooler climates and high rainfall can use less that 1 acre-foot of water per acre each year. (One acre-foot of water is the amount of water covering a one-acre area - roughly one football field - to a depth of one foot, which is equal to 325,851 gallons.) Golf courses in hot, dry climates may require as much as 6 acre-feet of water per acre per year.
Mar 11, 2019 · Other factors influence how much water a golf course requires or has available. These factors can be climate, type of turf grass, agronomic and soils conditions, regulations, and water availability. ... Typical ET rates for our area are highest in July-August at .21 inches per day forming a bell shaped curve for earlier and later months. The ...
Jul 01, 2020 · 250. 165. And keep in mind, that’s in a fairly standard climate. If you’re outdoors in hot weather — like on a golf course — you’ll need to drink even more water. And that’s not to ...
Water is one of the biggest costs to golf courses, and this is another reason why many have tried to save as much water as possible. Depending on the location of the golf course and the climate, an 18-hole course can use on average 2.08 billion gallons of water per day. Depending on the amount of water needed, a typical golf course can spend between $7,000 and $108,000 per year.
As well as trying to reduce pollution, rising temperatures have seen more demand on water supplies that has to be managed to ensure there is always fresh water available. Over the past few years, more countries have had to impose water restrictions and spend more money on their infrastructure to ensure no water is lost.
Many courses will have a lot of open grass areas that are not strictly part of the course. This grass also needs irrigation, but that increases the demand for water. To counteract this, some courses have removed the areas of grass that are not needed and replaced it with cacti can desert-loving plants. These need little irrigation, and they are also a good contrast to the green fairways and greens.
Many countries have now imposed water restrictions on all of the businesses and farms that use water and limited the amount they can use in a year. Golf courses have a two-fold use for water. The first and greatest use is on the maintained turfgrass.
However, research has been going on into alternatives that not only need less water but can also handle more salt. Poor quality water often has a higher salt content, which can be bad for the grasses. By increasing their tolerance, water from more sources can be used.
Along with this, they will often have other facilities such as clubhouses, conference facilities, and other areas that may also need to use water. The restrictions placed on golf courses has meant that they have had to implement strategies to monitor and save water where possible.
The actual amount of water a golf course needs to sustain healthy turf growth depends on many variables including the species of turf, and the prevailing climate in a given area. Scientific studies have determined that various turfgrasses require a specific percentage of the water that naturally evaporates from the soil and through the plants, also known as evapotranspiration (ETo). This reference number is typically measured by a weather station and models the inches of water that evaporates from a large, deep pan of water that is exposed to environmental conditions. Cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, creeping bentgrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue generally require only 80% of the total evaporative demand. Warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, seashore paspalum, and buffalograss use even less at 70% of ETo. Golf courses in cooler climates and high rainfall can use less that 1 acre-foot of water per acre each year. (One acre-foot of water is the amount of water covering a one-acre area - roughly one football field - to a depth of one foot, which is equal to 325,851 gallons.) Golf courses in hot, dry climates may require as much as 6 acre-feet of water per acre per year.
Cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass, creeping bentgrass, perennial ryegrass, and tall fescue generally require only 80% of the total evaporative demand. Warm-season grasses such as bermudagrass, zoysiagrass, seashore paspalum, and buffalograss use even less at 70% of ETo.
These factors can be climate, type of turf grass, agronomic and soils conditions, regulations, and water av ailability.
Course size varies, but consider a course with 130 irrigated acres and you have a total water need around 21 million gallons.
Irrigation Needs. Each course will vary because of size of the irrigated area and management practices. Also, water use each year will vary depending on climatic conditions. The timing and amount of rainfall, temperatures each month, and sunshine. There is no fixed answer.
The level of surface quality and beauty is based on golfer expectations. For many courses those expectations have been allowed to decline somewhat in recent times. Their golfers understand costs and know golf courses are struggling in this economic environment. For higher end golf clubs expectations have remained stable or even increased in some cases!
Without an automated ET scheduling system, a superintendent will manually adjust irrigation run times to match perceived plant water use. Water can be saved but with much increased labor input.
If the year has more beneficial rain events, the irrigation water use declines drastically. This year (2011), several courses in northern Ohio saw irrigation water application drop to 30% or so of historical averages.
Our service area (Ohio and Kentucky) generally has enough water available and reasonable regulatory conditions. Challenges arise from site and soil conditions and wide variation in rainfall throughout the growing season.
If that sounds like a lot of water to drink, just think about all the positive effects drinking lots of water has on your body. It can help your brain function more effectively, it can speed up your metabolism so you’ll lose more weight, and it’ll keep you generally healthy in other ways which will lessen your risk for diseases down the road.
And keep in mind, that’s in a fairly standard climate. If you’re outdoors in hot weather — like on a golf course — you’ll need to drink even more water. And that’s not to mention whether you’re putting down any alcohol, which can dehydrate your system even further.
As with so much else in turf care, the durability of your lawn depends on many factors. But as a general rule, Cutler says, grass starts going dormant after two weeks without water. After a month, it’s apt to die.
When you water after dark, you open the door to fungus and mildew, which creep in when moisture sits for too long on the grass. When you water after dark, you open the door to fungus and mildew. getty.
Conserving water is a good idea. Golf courses do it . Homeowners should do it, too . But how long can you let your lawn go without?
Different soils have different water-holding capacities. A sandy soil con- tains individual soil particles of larger size and will hold less water than a fine-textured clay soil. Therefore, turf grown on a sandy soil requires water more frequently than turf grown on finer-textured soils. Superintendents base irrigation schedules, in part, on soil type(s) present on the golf course. Often, there are multiple soil types on a golf course, so irrigation practices must be adjusted accordingly.
Although they can all be managed to provide quality playing surfaces, the inputs they require to remain healthy vary by species. Some turfgrass species have better internal mechanisms to tolerate or avoid drought stress than others. Therefore, whenever there are different turfgrass species on a golf course, golfers may notice the superintendent watering one part of the course more frequently than another.