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Water Quality Management of Purdue’s Kampen Golf Course

Zachary Reicher, Ron Turco, and Amanda Lopez, Department of Agronomy
Vickie Poole, Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
Jon Harbor, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences

Objective

The objective of this study is to determine how effective created wetlands are in filtering water runoff from commercial, residential, and golf course areas before the water enters a highly valued environmental area. Our overall goals include:

• Develop the use of golf course constructed wetlands to improve residential runoff.
• Assess the ability of constructed wetlands to protect adjacent and highly sensitive natural wetland environment.
• Evaluate the regeneration of water supplies for golf course use.

Rationale

It is established that pesticides and fertilizers when applied properly to golf course turf do not move off-site through runoff or leaching. Golf courses may actually improve the water quality in streams and rivers flowing through the course. This project takes this idea one step farther to determine if the created wetlands on Purdue’s new Kampen Golf Course can filter possible impurities in runoff from the adjacent neighborhood. The neighborhood includes two residential highways, parking lot of a motel, a gas station, and 200 residences. The water flowing through the Kampen Course eventually enters Celery Bog, a nature center which contains a natural wetland. Prior to reconstruction of the Kampen Course, residential runoff entered Celery Bog directly through drainage tiles and overland transport. This five-year study is part of a larger project monitoring the larger watershed including industrial, agricultural, and commercial sites.

How It Was Done

After construction of the Kampen Course was finished in 1998, water quality samplers were installed at six points throughout the created wetlands. The samplers were located to track the progress of water as it enters the east edge of the courses, through the wetland system, and exits the far northwest edge of the course. The water is sampled continuously for temperature, pH, oxygen content and other quality parameters. During storm events, water is sampled for contaminants such as nutrients, pesticides, salt, metals, petroleum products, etc. It is thought if any contaminants will be identified in the system, it will most likely occur during or immediately after a storm event. All water samplers were installed by Sep. 1998 and storm events were analyzed in Nov. 1998, June 1999, and Nov. 1999.

Results to Date

• Since only three storm events were analyzed thus far, limited construction is still occurring in and around the created wetlands, and the wetland vegetation is still establishing and maturing, it is too early to draw definite conclusions. However, seasonal trends are appearing where the wetlands are much more efficient in removing contaminants in the early summer compared to fall. Additionally, it appears that as the golf course and wetlands mature, many more positive effects and fewer negative effects on water quality are occurring as the water circulates through the wetlands on the Kampen Course.
• In the Nov. 1998 sampling (Table 1), 14 parameters or contaminants indicated a decrease in water quality from the urban runoff (Site 1) to the water exiting the golf course (Site 6). Four parameters or contaminant levels indicated an improvement in water quality between the urban input and the water exiting the course. However, key parameters such as ammonia and nitrate-nitrite nitrogen and pesticide levels were either decreased as the water circulated through the golf course wetlands or were not detectable at either sampling site.
• Just the opposite was true in the June 99 sampling, 15 parameters or contaminant levels indicated an improvement in water quality from the urban runoff (Site 1) to the water exiting the golf course (Site 6). Only 4 parameters or contaminant levels indicated a decrease in water quality between the urban input and the water exiting the course. This suggests that the golf course's created wetland system is functioning to improve the water quality. Two parameters of interest include nitrate-nitrite N and ammonia-N, which were undetectable in water exiting the course, but at 2.1 and 31 ppm, respectively, in water flowing onto the course.
• In the Nov. 1999 sampling, 12 parameters or contaminants indicated an improvement in water quality from the urban runoff (Site 1) to the water exiting the golf course (Site 6). Seven parameters or contaminant levels indicated a decrease in water quality between the urban input and the water exiting the course. Like in the November 1998 sampling, key parameters such as ammonia and nitrate-nitrite nitrogen and pesticide levels were either decreased as the water circulated through the golf course wetlands or were not detectable at either sampling site. Some parameters that indicated a decrease in water quality (aluminum, magnesium, and silicon) are components in sand and are probably a direct reflection of sand eroding out of bunkers and into the tile system. As the course matures and erosion decreases, these parameters will probably become insignificant.
• No unusually high levels of any of a wide array of potential pollutants, including pesticides and metals were detected in the golf course sampling sites. However, atrazine and simazine were detected in November 1998 at a site at the outlet of celery bog (site #7), which measures the water quality of the entire watershed. The watershed includes chemical manufacturing, farmland, subdivisions, apartment complexes, trailer courts, gas stations and other commercial areas. Atrazine was also detected in water exiting the neighborhood and entering the golf course (Site 1).
• Surprisingly, even from the urban runoff there is no measurable oil and grease. It is reassuring to note that heavy metals of concern, such as mercury and lead, are below detection limits in all samples. Recent samplings have been collected and sent for analysis. All of the flow data for the site is now available on CD-ROM and is currently being analyzed for patterns and characteristics.

Acknowledgments

The work reported here would not have been possible without the support and assistance of numerous people and organizations. Thanks goes to Jim Scott, superintendent of the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex for his patience and cooperation. Financial and in-kind support for water quality monitoring on the Kampen Course was provided by the United States Golf Association, Pete Dye, Inc, and Heritage Environmental.

Figure 1. Schematic of water sampling sites in Kampen Course water monitoring project (not to scale).
Numbers inside boxes indicate sampling site.

Table 1.  Detailed chemical scan results from storm runoff on 30 Nov 1998, 14 June 1999, and 1 Nov 1999.

BDL = Below Detection Limit.
^a where contaminant was BDL, the detection limit was used for % increase/decrease calculations.

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Send corrections, suggestions, and comments to biehlj@purdue.edu