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Water Quality Management on Purdue’s Kampen Golf Course

Zachary Reicher, Vickie Poole, Ron Turco, Amanda Lopez and Jon Harbor

Purdue University Nov 2000

Objective

The objective of this study was 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 87 indicators of water quality including 13 organophosphate pesticides such as the dinitroaniline preemergence herbicides (pendimethalin), 27 organochlorine pesticides such as dieldren, 6 chlorinated herbicides like 2,4-D, and other 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, Nov 1999, Aug 2000, Nov 2000, and Apr 2001.

Results to Date

• Of the 87 water quality parameters measured, only 16 have shown up in the system regularly. No unusually high levels of any of a wide array of potential pollutants, including pesticides and metals were detected at the golf course sampling sites. However, atrazine was detected in water exiting the neighborhood onto the golf course in June 1998 and Apr 2001. The wetlands decreased the concentrations of atrazine by the time the water exited the course on both dates.
• Six storm events have been analyzed thus far and it appears that as the golf course and wetlands mature, they are becoming more efficient in improving the quality of the water as it flows through the course. Ten parameters or contaminants indicated a decrease in water quality between the urban runoff (Site 1) to the water exiting the golf course (Site 6) in Nov 1998 sampling while only 5 parameters or contaminant levels indicated an improvement in water quality between the urban input and the water exiting the course. In the Apr 2001 sampling, only 1 parameter or contaminant indicated a decrease in water quality as the water moved through the system while 13 indicated improved water quality.
• Concentrations of key contaminants like nitrate-nitrite nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, and phosphorus were reduced as the water circulated through the wetland system. However, potassium concentrations often increased as the water circulated through the system. The sampling dates do not coincide with golf course potassium applications so we are unsure of where the potassium is entering the system.
• 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.
• There is much variability in the system, apparently somewhat due to season but also due to other currently unknown factors. For instance in Nov 2000, 8 parameters or contaminants indicated a decrease in water quality through the created wetlands while 7 parameters or contaminant levels indicated an improvement in water quality. On the other hand in Apr 2001 sampling, 13 parameters responded positively as water moved through the system while only one responded negatively.
• All of the flow data for the site is now available on CD-ROM and is currently being analyzed for patterns and characteristics. Additionally, data from the 6 individual sites are currently being analyzed.

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.

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