Wetlands Study Shows Reduction of Chemicals in Surface Water

Golf Course Wetlands Judged Significant for Water Management

Purdue soil microbiologist Ron Turco used a series of ponds on the university's Kampen Golf Course for a five-year wetlands study.
Photo: Purdue Agricultural Communication, Tom Campbell

Wetlands add an aesthetic value and create homes for wildlife and flora, of course, but they also help filter chemicals in runoff and manage storm water.

Three ponds were constructed on a renovated golf course on the Purdue University campus as part of a five-year study by Purdue researchers. The study, published in the February issue of the journal Ecological Engineering, reports 11 of the 17 measurable chemicals in the surface water were reduced after running through the system. Some 11,000 water plants placed in the ponds were responsible, along with microbes, for retaining or degrading the various chemicals from the urban environs and the course itself. The chemicals entering the ponds included atrazine, chloride, nitrate, ammonia, nitrogen, organic carbon, phosphorus, aluminum, iron, potassium and manganese. In all, 83 chemicals were monitored, but only 17 were present in measurable amounts.

"Constructed wetlands on golf courses and in planned communities are a very good water management system," said Ron Turco, soil microbiologist and senior author of the study. The ponds were also used for irrigating the golf course, a less expensive alternative to pumping ground water.

?EUR??,,????'??When you build houses, roads and driveways, a lot of hard surface is added, leaving no place for water to go. Building dikes and levees just moves the water problem somewhere else, causing flooding elsewhere," noted Turco. He believes that constructing wetlands ?EUR??,,????'??can be significant in water management and water quality just by their use on the approximately 16,000 U.S. golf courses the National Golf Foundation lists."

Turco notes that it's important to design wetlands with enough capacity to handle the runoff. ?EUR??,,????'??Water flow speed and the ponds' depths must vary to ensure that the microbes remain active so they can degrade contaminants,?EUR??,,????'?? he adds.

References

1. Quote material source: Susan Steeves
2. E.A. Kohler, V.L. Poole, Z. J. Reicher, R.F. Turco. Nutrient, metal and pesticide removal during storm and non-storm events by a constructed wetland on an urban golf course. Ecological Engineering, February 2005.