Reclaimed Irrigation Cancel The title field is required!

1. Roach Adrian

   
   3/4/2014 11:03 AM

   We are discussing a new irrigation at our course. Our facility is Municipal owned and operated in Indiana. We currently are on city water and pay for it. In a meeting with our utility department, we found out that they have 26million gallons a day of reclaimed water that is being dumped into a local river. The facility is less than a mile from our course. I was wanting to know, has anyone ever received any funding from the government by doing a reclaimed water project like this at a golf course? We see this as a green project. To my knowledge, no golf course in our state has reclaimed irrigation.
   
   Any help would be greatly appreciated.

   
   
   
   
2. Gary Carls

   

   19 posts
   
   3/4/2014 4:03 PM

   Adrian,
   
   A lot of it could depend on how anxious the water folks are to have the water actually get used vs. just dumping it in the river. At my previous course about 17 years ago (way back!!) the reclaimed water folks actually negotiated a deal where they paid for the install of the retrofit irrigation system so we could keep fresh water to our greens while taking the reclaimed for everything else. If I remember correctly it was in the neighborhood of about half a million dollars at the time. We were first along the line so it was important to them to get us on-board as there were several others farther out that they wanted on the system as well.
   
   It's interesting to negotiate with them because they always are trying to find a long-term way to recover their expenses for producing the water in the long-term. It's probably an advantage to you to be the first big user interested as that might give them some incentive to work with you. If you do go with the reclaimed try to negotiate a fair price for it that takes into account some additional maintenance expenses you may encounter once you start using the water if there are any water quality issues.
   
   Lots more to it but hopefully this is a starting point.

   
   Gary K. Carls, CGCS, President - Oakland Turfgrass Education Initiative
   
   
3. Steven Huffstutler

   

   11 posts
   
   3/4/2014 8:03 PM

   It starts out that they are happy to get rid of the water, then some genius decides that it can be a profit center for them and pretty soon, you are paying a premium for sub premium water. Environmentally sound and worth a look, but beware one sided contracts and sole supplier deals.
   
   Regards,
   
   Steve

   
   
   
   
4. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   3/4/2014 10:03 PM

   Our water district funded a portion of an upgrade to our plant to be able to supply reclaimed water to our courses and roadways. In our case it was a mandate to offset our groundwater withdraw. Three suggestions: see if the plant is already producing public access reuse or if they would be required to perform additional upgrades. Second, survey regional prices for reclaimed water in your area, then lock in that price(either $0 or small fee) for a long period, 10-20 years. Don't be afraid to hire a third party for this. Third, if you move forward with the connection, work closely with the plant to supply water that is suitable for your needs. Communicating what is good and bad can usually affect your supply. In my case, explains that chlorides were bad and Nitrates good helped our plant save time and money while still providing us with decent water. They were simply ignorant to our needs, but very willing to help us out.

   
   
   
   
5. Steven Huffstutler

   

   11 posts
   
   3/5/2014 9:03 AM

   Once that initial contract is over, they will stick it right where the sun doesn't shine, so make sure you contract for a good long time.

   
   
   
   
6. Peter Bowman

   

   11 posts
   
   3/5/2014 10:03 AM

   Steven Huffstutler, CGCS said: Once that initial contract is over, they will stick it right where the sun doesn't shine, so make sure you contract for a good long time.

   
   
   Ain't that the truth. Just ask the guys in the city of Long Beach, CA. It probably hasn't changed, but twenty seven years ago when I was down there Superintendents had no choice. You either used reclaimed or you didn't water. You either paid their rates or you didn't water. It was way more expensive than I paid for potable in other areas.

   
   
   
   
7. Brad Marcy

   

   0 posts
   
   3/27/2014 8:03 AM

   We have had an agreement with our local reclaimed water source who produces upwards of 300 million gallons of reclaimed/year for the last 5 years. We have recently gotten into talks with them to upgrade the irrigation system to disperse more water. They appear more than willing to provide us with a new system if it helps reduce their bottom line and shows that they are being environmentally conscious by not dumping it directly in a river.