City water for golf course irrigation Cancel The title field is required!

1. Mark Moers

   

   1 posts
   
   2/11/2020 1:02 PM

   Was wondering if anyone here is using city water as a irrigation source. We are in discussions about abandoning our existing well and using city water to fill our holding pond. If so, is there any problems associated with turf health. We are a municipal golf course so that is figuring into the process.

   
   
   
   
2. James Smith

   

   112 posts
   
   2/11/2020 2:02 PM

   I do not know if I fit your question as we do have well water but last October we had an issue with our irrigation pond and I had to use city water for a little over 3 months. had to fill up tanks on trailers and pump it out onto my greens. I was only able to get about 1/3 of the amount of water my system could do on my greens every day.
   
   What I noticed was that my greens responded much better to it then I would of thought. they looked a little healthier then when fist started about a month before the fiasco. Due to the water method I could not apply any chemicals that needed watered in as I could not do it evenly the way we were getting it out. They still did pretty good and I would not think twice if I needed it again.
   
   What I would advise is taking a water sample and having it tested though. Where I live was at a ph of 9 at one time. some areas have hard water and some soft. You can either use a lab or get a pool test kit and they sell home test kits to test the hardness of your water also. I laugh because there are a lot of homes in my subdivision that have water softeners installed and there is nothing wrong with our water. I know I tested it several times. 

   
   
   
   
3. Dennis Petruzzelli

   

   5 posts
   
   2/12/2020 7:02 AM

   2-12-2020
   
   Hi Mark -
   
   Our facility is exclusively city water. After having the water tested, it is of very good quality. One unique feature I noticed is how cold the water is in the summer time. When I need to syringe wilt, I'd like to think the cold water helps give me a quicker and longer remedy to the wilt situation.  It sucks buying water, but, it's made me more conservative with my irrigation practices since I have to pay for it. Turf is healthier, more stress tolerant and deeper rooted since adopting stricter water conservation.
   
   Good Luck.
   
   Dennis Petruzzelli, CGCS
   Oronoque CC
   Stratford, CT