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Operation conservation
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The drought that has descended upon the southeastern U.S. has been front-page news lately, but for Phillip Jennings of Phillip Jennings Turf Farms in Soperton, Ga., water conservation has always been on the front burner. Every year since the sod farm began in 1997, Jennings has added at least one pond or expanded an existing lake on his 3,000-acre property in central Georgia, midway between Macon and Savannah.
Jennings says he began the business with a “master plan” for conserving groundwater, even though he had numerous wells with access to an extensive aquifer beneath the state.
“We looked at places we could put ponds to catch surface runoff, and then spent $2 million to construct lakes — in-house, with our own equipment,” he says. “It’s expensive to do, but it’s better than the alternative.”
To date, the property has more than 100 acres of surface water. Many of the operation’s 18 wells are now unused because the reservoirs largely keep up with the turf’s water demand.
“Previously, we would pump up to 2 million gallons a day out of a single well,” Jennings says. “We believe that we are conserving millions of gallons a day at peak times simply by using our reservoirs.
“I am almost to the point where I could survive on surface water,” he adds, and with climatologists predicting that the current La Niña pattern is likely to prolong drought conditions across much of Georgia through spring and may expand into southeastern Georgia by spring as well, that’s a timely accomplishment.
“We feel like the same exact model would work for all kinds of developments in the state of Georgia,” Jennings points out. “If every municipality took the same approach that we’ve taken on our farms, there wouldn’t be a water problem. What we have is a planning problem.”
Building reservoirs to retain surface water isn’t Jennings’ only conservation tactic. He’s also continuing to develop grasses that require less water or that tolerate poor or saline water.
“Most people are beginning to realize that we’ve got to do a much better job of selecting varieties that will not use up our water supply — that would be zoysia and paspalum,” Jennings says.
Jennings prefers Supreme and Platinum varieties of seashore paspalum and says several zoysiagrass varieties are extemely drought-tolerant.
He continues to identify areas on his property to build new reservoirs and to spread the gospel of groundwater conservation.
“We can do without a lot of things in this country, but there are two things we can’t do without: food and water,” Jennings says. “Everybody — even populated communities — ought to be thinking about the need to have dual water systems.”
To enhance training of future professionals in the irrigation industry, the Irrigation Association Education Foundation faculty academy recently hosted 25 instructors from the U.S. and Canada to a two-day intensive irrigation seminar. High school, college and university instructors learned about pumps, pump systems, precipitation rates, electrical troubleshooting, scheduling, alternative water supplies and design capacity. The group also toured the Center for Irrigation Technology in Fresno, Calif. The fifth annual faculty academy featured in-class and hands-on field irrigation experience. Along with expanding its reach into new markets, Agrilink, an Australian company that designs, produces and distributes moisture sensors and smart information technology geared toward water conservation, has officially changed its name to AquaSpy Group. Its historically agricultural customer base in the United States and Australia will be rounded out to include sporting, commercial, government and urban sectors, as well, the company says. Last year, the company launched Golflinx to take its water conservation technology to the golf course industry. |
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