Recycled water:
5 things to think about

This on-site “scalping plant” at Guadalajara CC in Mexico is located on the property near the irrigation pumps and a series of lakes that hold the treated water. Photo by Mike Huck

Bunny Smith

Whether you’re planning to start using recycled water on your golf course soon or merely pondering the possibility for the future, Dana Point, Calif.-based irrigation consultant Mike Huck has a list of important considerations, which he presented to superintendents at an environmental session at the recent GCSAA Education Conference in New Orleans.

How close is your golf course to a recycled water source? Huck says it currently costs approximately $1 million for every mile of pipeline from the reclamation plant to the golf course in urban areas. Although the recycled water purveyor usually absorbs the direct costs of the pipeline, Huck says, if a golf course lies outside of the “radius of reasonable cost/distance,” the return on investment becomes unattractive. A growing number of golf courses, especially in arid regions, are resolving this issue by investigating building on-site reclamation (or “scalping”) plants.

Be prepared for recycled water quality to change over time. Huck cites a number of studies that show that salt pickup in these supplies is increasing. Total dissolved salts are affected by a number of urban conservation practices, including the use of low-flow bathroom fixtures, dishwashers and washing machines, but primarily by the use of home water softeners, he says. Nutrient pickup of nitrogen and phosphorus from human waste and other domestic use can be a concern or a cost savings, depending upon nutrient concentrations.

Can you afford an overall operating budget increase of 10 to 15 percent? Huck says to expect higher-salinity recycled water to accelerate deterioration of both irrigation equipment and course maintenance equipment and accessories. Sensitive trees and other ornamentals may have to be replaced. Additional water may have to be purchased for leaching, and additional funds may be needed for backflow testing, water and/or soil amendments, and trained labor to operate within guidelines. However, he points out that depending on your region, the cost of the water can sometimes be negotiated to more than offset the 10 to 15 percent operating cost increase.

Who’s your competition? In the future, recycled water will become increasingly valuable. Huck says that in an innovative two-day auction last fall, the Arizona town of Prescott Valley sold the rights to 2,724 acre-feet of effluent water to a New York-based water-resource investment firm for $24,650 per acre-foot — more than $67 million. Use of recycled water will also expand along with expanding pipelines, on-site reclamation plants and reservoirs. Irrigation of turf and ornamentals could become considered “interruptible” use of recycled water as approved uses grow. Huck says California already has 43 approved uses of recycled water, including toilet flushing in dual-plumbed buildings. Huck recommends that superintendents “be first on the bandwagon to protect their rights to that resource.”

Can you afford the alternative? The technology for treating recycled water for indirect and direct potable reuse is “coming of age,” Huck says, with reverse osmosis-processed bottled drinking water (called “NEWater”) already available to consumers in Singapore. Some golf courses in the West that are currently using potable-quality water for irrigation are already spending $300,000 to $600,000 per year. When water is valued from this perspective, Huck says, “Without recycled water, there will be no turf.”

Mike Huck is president of Irrigation & Turfgrass Services. Bunny Smith is managing editor of GCM.