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Golf Course Goes Reclaimed12-29-08 | News

Golf Course Goes Reclaimed

The Washington Department of Ecology has will award WSU and Pullman $1 million dollars to improve local water resources. Public parks and golf courses are among the intended beneficiaries.

The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) will award more than $1 million to Washington State University and the city of Pullman for a project that will help improve water resources in the area.

The city and WSU will use the grant money to help develop a project to reclaim and reuse treated water, according to an Ecology news release. Reclaiming or re-using water means using engineered treatment systems to speed up nature?EUR??,,????'?????<

The Ecology grant comprises only a portion of the total estimated costs of the project, which is about $16 million.

Reclaimed water may also be used in agricultural and industrial uses, for toilet flushing, dust control, construction activities, and to create wetlands and ponds.

The WSU project involves three strategies:

Increasing the amount of water in Airport Creek.
Improving vegetation and habitat along the South Fork Palouse River by planting bushes and trees along the banks near the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

Improving the wetlands that border the newly expanded WSU golf course.

Examples of how this is done may include improving the way the water moves in and out of the wetland or planting native plants.

The project will use a portion of the treated effluent from the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

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The city and WSU applied for Ecology funding for the project last year through the Palouse Watershed Planning Unit. The planning unit is composed of people representing a variety of local water interests who work with local and state government to improve the watershed?EUR??,,????'?????<

Ecology and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife worked closely with the city and WSU to make sure that the environment would benefit as much as possible from the project. As a result, the project not only takes some pressure off the community water supply but also helps improve the environment.

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Source: klewtv.com 3