A pilot project at a Florida country club demonstrates one option for protecting surface water and groundwater.

By Frederick Bloetscher, Carol Millman, H. Dixie Shaber, and Robert Akre

South Florida is water-rich with highly permeable aquifer systems. The benefit of a porous and permeable subsurface is that it allows water to recharge the groundwater easily from the surface (surficial aquifer). Consequently, rainwater disappears rapidly beneath the surface to become the primary source of potable water. This same surface water—groundwater connection, however, also allows contaminants to enter the aquifer system easily and rapidly. For this reason, the first line of defense in protecting drinking-water supplies is the prevention of pollutants from entering the soils and stormwater runoff.

In Broward County, FL, the Department of Planning and Environmental Protection (DPEP) is the agency charged by county ordinance with groundwater protection, including regulation of stormwater and groundwater discharges. These rules are in addition to rules or practices promulgated by the state.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) has published guidelines for golf courses on wash-down systems in a best management practices (BMPs) document (available on-line at www.dep.state.fl.us). This document provides guidelines for the protection of surface water and groundwater, including ways to handle incidental hydrocarbons and grass clippings and particulates, which adhere to the equipment and could potentially enter the washwater.

The ABCs of BMPs

Given the susceptibility of Florida's water resources to pollution, FDEP has established BMPs to help protect water resources from nonpoint-source pollution. BMPs are control techniques used for a given set of site conditions to achieve stormwater-quality and -quantity enhancement at a minimal cost. The document produced by FDEP is a set of guidelines, which are not yet rules.

Potential pollutants specific to golf course maintenance activities are fertilizer residues, lubricating oil, grease, dirt, grass clippings, and particulates from equipment washwater that could enter the stormwater. For this reason, the guidelines discuss several structural controls to help treat and remove pollutants from washwater while minimizing water use.

Broward County Groundwater

The water supply for all of southeast Florida, including Broward County, is the Biscayne Aquifer, a G-2 sole-source, surficial aquifer. The aquifer varies from 200 ft. thick along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean to only a few feet in the central Everglades. Rainfall and horizontal flows from the Everglades recharge the aquifer. Because it is the only freshwater source in the area that is capable of providing sufficient water to meet the human population's needs, surface activities are severely restricted in the vicinity of public water-supply wells.

Broward County's DPEP has undertaken substantial modeling of the county's water supplies and defined areas where water supplies might be influenced by surface activities. Accordingly, four categories of restrictions in surface activities have been established based on travel times from the surface source to the wells. The least restricted activities are those allowed in areas beyond the 270-day travel time. Areas closest to the wells have the most restrictions. Virtually all of the county lies within the 270-day travel time zones and therefore has some restrictions on surface activities.

Variance must be obtained for activities not specifically permitted by Broward County code. Surface-water discharge from golf course wash rack systems requires such a variance.

Applicants can propose a variance for a demonstration conducted to further an environmental goal, if the demonstration project will not significantly harm the environment. The Ft. Lauderdale Country Club applied for a variance to use a new technology for handling its equipment washwater, a surface-water protection wash rack system (SurfRax). This system falls under the BMP category of a treatment train, in which several types of stormwater controls are integrated into a stormwater management system; in this case, one control is particulate and hydrocarbon removal systems installed in a catch basin to remove sand, silt, and hydrocarbons washed from mowing equipment. The variance was granted with the following conditions:

• A log will be kept of the dates for change-out of the hydrocarbon pads and cleaning of the cartridge filtration system inserts (including an estimate of quantities of particulates).
• The debris from the cartridge will be removed and disposed of properly. Documentation may include photographs.
• The applicant will evaluate the need to replace the pads after six months and provide a response to DPEP and will maintain a record of when the pads are removed and their disposition (to a place that accepts oily waste).
• Water-quality samples must be taken (for hydrocarbons prior to pad replacement and one day later), with analysis for the first six months of hydrocarbons (volatile organic compounds), surfactants, and fuels.

The discharge must not be to any surface water body. The variance will last two years, after which a permanent permit may be approved.

Golf Course Operations

Golf courses typically have 150-200 ac. of land that is continually mowed, fertilized, and trimmed. The greens are mowed almost every day, the fairways every other day, and the roughs every week. To accomplish this intense maintenance, most golf courses on any given day use up to 30 pieces of equipment, which require washing. Although grass clippings are the most common item washed off the equipment, sand, silt, and other small particulates also adhere to the equipment and get into in the washwater. Residues of fertilizers and lubricating oils are minimal, but disposal of the resulting washwater, which might contain incidental hydrocarbons, is the major concern. The wash-down area specifically excludes pesticide- and herbicide-use areas (they are contained within the mix and load areas).

Ft. Lauderdale Country Club

The Ft. Lauderdale Country Club is on the east side of the city of Plantation.

The maintenance site is near the center of the subdivision that surrounds the golf course. Before the new system was installed, the wash-down area was on the pavement adjacent to the maintenance building, and washwater discharged off the pavement went directly into soil at the edge of the pavement just east of the wash pad. A municipal potable water-supply well field is located throughout the golf course, and therefore the course falls within the most restrictive well-field protection zone. For this reason DPEP required a variance with specific conditions.

The golf course superintendent's requirements were for a more user-friendly, low-maintenance, and economical method of stormwater protection that followed the BMP guidelines. His preference was for a limited-maintenance, no-mechanical-equipment alternative that could be cleaned and maintained with minimal effort. Options available for managing washwater included installing recycling systems and trying a new approach.

Recycling equipment currently sold for golf course use costs $40,000-$80,000. These systems are mechanically intensive, and FDEP and the local superintendent have raised questions about maintenance and proper use by mowing crews. Recycling systems are also designed for a given flow, which means they have little ability to adjust for unusual rainfall events and fluctuations in daily washwater usage, which could be a major problem.

Ft. Lauderdale Country Club chose to try a new treatment-train technology developed by a cross-functional team of environmental professionals. The Surface Water Protection Wash Rack System uses a simple approach to protecting the surface-water quality that minimizes maintenance requirements. To complete the treatment train, it incorporates the phytoremediation capability of halophytic cultivars to further improve the quality of the washwater.

Project Description

Click here for largr view

The system constructed for the Ft. Lauderdale Country Club golf course is shown in Figure 2. The 20- x 20-ft. wash rack was constructed upon the existing wash pad area. A trough directs the washwater to a catch basin via a grass screen; the catch basin drains to a dry retention area. The system also incorporates particulate and hydrocarbon removal systems into the catch basin to remove sand, silt, and hydrocarbons washed from mowing equipment. Particulate removal is accomplished using a nonmechanical solid separating system designed for this purpose. For hydrocarbon removal, specially designed absorption pads are placed in the catch basin and replaced periodically.

For the final treatment stage, a new soil matrix and halophytic grass were installed. The soil matrix includes activated silica, which enhances the availability of nutrients in the soil to the grass and maximizes its phytoremediation capability.

Grass screen and insert in catch basin

Phytoremediation area

The maintenance of this system consists of three steps: (1) remove the grass clippings from the screen and place them in the mulch area, (2) periodically replace the absorbent pads, and (3) remove the silt and sand from the catch basin insert. Recordkeeping requirements of the variance include the following; results are provided to DPEP.

• A date log for change-out of the hydrocarbon pads and analysis
• A date log for cleaning the solids separator inserts (including an estimate of quantities of particulates)
• A log of water-quality samples taken

The new wash-down system fully complies with the recommendations that are contained in the FDEP BMP document. From FDEP's perspective, the two critical issues–particulates and hydrocarbons–are addressed. From DPEP's perspective, the issues of particulates and hydrocarbons are addressed in the approved variance to its rules. Added benefits are that the cost to construct the wash-down system is less than half of the average cost of recycling systems and maintenance will cost substantially less in the future. Periodic visits will be made to ensure that the system operates as intended over the long term.

Conclusions

Golf course management for the 21st century must take a proactive approach to environmental issues. Because of the link between water resources and surface water in Florida, the incorporation of BMPs to protect water resources should be part of the golf course's overall environmental management program. The superintendent at the Ft. Lauderdale Country Club chose to integrate a treatment train consisting of a simple wash rack system with the phytoremediation capability of halophytic grass to protect the quality of discharge water from the equipment-washing operation on this site.

Maintenance of the project includes grit removal, hydrocarbon pad replacement, and mowing of the halophytic cultivars. Only the latter occurs more than monthly, and it requires five to 10 minutes to complete. The rest will be monitored to ensure optimal performance. As a result, the Ft. Lauderdale Country Club system will continue to meet FDEP requirements for surface-water discharges from golf course equipment washing, both now and as can reasonably be anticipated in the future.

Frederick Bloetscher, Ph.D., P.E., is president of Public Utility Management and Planning Services Inc. in Hollywood, FL. Carol Millman is an engineer with the Broward County (FL) Department of Planning and Environmental Protection. H. Dixie Shaber is an environmental compliance geologist and president of DixiLogic in Ft. Pierce, FL. Robert Akre, G.C., is president of Terr-Kinetics Inc. in Stuart, FL.

SW - November/December 2002

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