Golf Courses – Prepare for Hot Summers with Affordable & Sustainable Irrigation Solutions

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, whilst Earth’s climate has changed throughout its history, the current warming is happening at a rate not seen in the past 10,000 years. This summer was the joint warmest on record in England, alongside 2018, and four out of the five hottest summers in the UK have all been since 2003.

The impact of this trend is clearly very significant for golf courses in the UK and across the world. Right now, golf clubs have a unique opportunity to make a powerful contribution to the solution – minimising their contribution to climate change, conserving resources AND saving money.

IMAGE: Golf course covered in dry grassland with green grass over hole from watering during extreme summer heatwave in Beverley, Yorkshire.

Every golf club can be a responsible, resource-efficient business in an ecologically rich landscape

Many golf course managers are looking for new ways of ensuring a good golfing experience for their members next summer – and beyond – continuing to provide lush, green courses, whilst conserving and reducing the use of their most vital and precious resource – water.

This is becoming doubly imperative with the rising costs of municipal water in the UK, together with the increasingly compromised quality of available water sources, both of which present golf course owners and operators with significant issues of supply, cost and availability.

Plantwork Systems can help you be part of the solution, by offering a unique means of efficiently and effectively utilising high quality treated wastewater for your course’s water needs.

As the Golf Environment Organisation (GEO) says: “Every golf club can be a responsible, resource-efficient business in an ecologically rich landscape.” 

You just need the right tools…

Pure SBR is a compact and highly efficient wastewater treatment system offering a complete and superior solution to the wastewater treatment needs of golf courses and other small scale sites.

The Pure SBR Solution

Plantwork Systems’ Pure SBR enables the on-going recycling of wastewater from the club house buildings to irrigate the greens, dramatically reducing the use of the local clean water supply. In so doing, your golf course stands to reap a number of substantial rewards – financial, environmental and reputational.

Pure SBR is a compact and highly efficient wastewater treatment system, offering a complete and superior solution to the wastewater treatment needs of golf courses and other small scale sites. It is a more efficient, lower cost improvement on traditional systems, with numerous proven benefits. It is suitable for all biologically treatable waters, occupies comparatively little space and can recycle grey or black water without significant additional treatment.

Pure SBR is easily installed, easily operated and maintained and is odour free, which makes it ideal for most golf courses. The system is also capable of growing if demand grows, with the reactors being installed in stages as and when they are required to treat additional flow.

All these benefits and the Pure SBR still averages significantly lower energy consumption rates than alternative technologies, translating into further operating savings.

Key Benefits of Pure SBR

• Treated water quality is so high that it can safely be re-used for watering greens and grounds, with the potential to save a fortune in water bills.
• The treated wastewater is also full of nutrients required for healthy grass, such as Phosphorus and Nitrogen, lowering fertiliser costs.
• A useable wastewater supply means guaranteed availability, even during periods of drought.
• Small footprint of the system: Water treated with a Pure SBR system is so clean it can be discharged directly into the environment. This means a smaller twin tank system is all that is needed and an effluent polisher is not required, saving significant capital cost.
• In the winter, when the golf course is quieter, the system operates in energy-saving mode, only processing when a full load is detected. This creates energy savings of 66%.
• The smaller system also creates further operational savings on the energy required for extra equipment in traditional systems which is not needed.
• The system is monitored online allowing the plant to be managed and maintained remotely. Any issues are picked up instantly and engineer visits minimised.

Be part of the SOLUTION, not the Problem

Fostering nature, conserving resources, strengthening communities and taking climate action – your golf course has a great opportunity to be part of the solution; at the same time securing and improving the experience of your members and visitors.

Waste water is a logical, safe and economical choice for golf course irrigation that also offers an environmentally responsible choice – with the consequent benefits to the environment and your business reputation.

TALK TO US TODAY about a Pure SBR system, to ensure that your greens can be kept in top condition in an environmentally-sensitive way – even through a water shortage – saving money in the process.

Article by Robert White, PWS Managing Director