By going green at golf courses
By Nick Hamad
It probably goes without saying that one of the key indicators of a quality golf course is an abundance of lush, green grass. Spokane, Wash., is in the rain shadow of the Cascade Mountain Range, which means irrigation is needed (and lots of it) to make up for the lack of precipitation. For example, across four municipal golf courses, an average of 225-million gallons of water is used annually. While the city is fortunate that water in the Inland Northwest is relatively affordable, it still adds up to an average water bill of $300,000 per year.
Conserving Water
In late 2017, the city’s parks and recreation department began an initiative with the water department and local environmental programs to reduce water usage by 30 percent on each new water-conservation project. To achieve this goal, a two-fold approach was implemented:
- Antiquated irrigation systems were replaced, and smart irrigation-controllers were installed to improve water-use efficiency (+/-20 percent reduction in water use per project).
- The amount of irrigated turf within parks was reduced by converting underutilized turf to meadow landscape or planted and mulched area (+/-10 percent reduction).
Since the golf courses are some of the biggest water users, they quickly became a priority for water-conservation projects—specifically, the two courses with antiquated and labor-intensive “manual quick coupler” irrigation systems.