Lone Star GCSAA Water Conservation BMP Plan for Golf Courses
The goal is for every 18-hole golf course in Texas to have a written Water Conservation BMP Plan. Water is our most critical natural resource and is vital to our business and industry. Golf can easily be an easy casualty of legislators or water regulators if left unchecked. We have a good story to tell regarding our water stewardship and we have to be the ones to tell it to protect our rights.
Below are four documents to assist golf course operators to develop their own Water Conservation/Efficiency BMP Plan:
1. The first document is the actual template (outline format) to develop the actual document by entering the site specific information for the BMP Plan.
BMP Template (Outline Format)
2. The second document is a spreadsheet to calculate (justify) your actual irrigation demand based on your site specific weather data (ET, Rainfall, Evaporation, etc.), acreage, irrigation system and alternative water sources. Fill in and modify the data in the YELLOW shaded areas in each tab based on your individual facility and the calculations will be done for you. Helpful websites for useful data are listed.
BMP Spreadsheet
3. The third document is the Water Conservation/Efficiency BMP Plan Reference Guide. This is a detailed document including valuable information useful for completing your BMP Plan. Each section of the Template has a reference to a section of the Reference Guide. You can be as brief or as detailed as you prefer for your facility. The Reference Guide also includes some helpful websites to collect data and other useful information.
BMP Reference Guide
4. The fourth document is a SAMPLE BMP Plan. This is an easy to follow format to be utilized as a guide or reference tool to complete your own document.
BMP Sample Plan
Once completed, please send a copy to LSGCSA to keep in a database file. This database will be used to document to legislators and regulators the stewardship commitment of the industry and as an illustration to assist others to complete their plan.
This will likely be the most important collective initiative the Texas Golf Course Superintendents will ever do for themselves. Our level of success will be determined by the commitment from all.
We are all in this together, so please contact LSGCSA if you have any questions regarding this process. One of the Directors will be happy to contact you to provide assistance.
The goal is for every 18-hole golf course in Texas to have a written Water Conservation BMP Plan. Water is our most critical natural resource and is vital to our business and industry. Golf can easily be an easy casualty of legislators or water regulators if left unchecked. We have a good story to tell regarding our water stewardship and we have to be the ones to tell it to protect our rights.
Below are four documents to assist golf course operators to develop their own Water Conservation/Efficiency BMP Plan:
1. The first document is the actual template (outline format) to develop the actual document by entering the site specific information for the BMP Plan.
BMP Template (Outline Format)
2. The second document is a spreadsheet to calculate (justify) your actual irrigation demand based on your site specific weather data (ET, Rainfall, Evaporation, etc.), acreage, irrigation system and alternative water sources. Fill in and modify the data in the YELLOW shaded areas in each tab based on your individual facility and the calculations will be done for you. Helpful websites for useful data are listed.
BMP Spreadsheet
3. The third document is the Water Conservation/Efficiency BMP Plan Reference Guide. This is a detailed document including valuable information useful for completing your BMP Plan. Each section of the Template has a reference to a section of the Reference Guide. You can be as brief or as detailed as you prefer for your facility. The Reference Guide also includes some helpful websites to collect data and other useful information.
BMP Reference Guide
4. The fourth document is a SAMPLE BMP Plan. This is an easy to follow format to be utilized as a guide or reference tool to complete your own document.
BMP Sample Plan
Once completed, please send a copy to LSGCSA to keep in a database file. This database will be used to document to legislators and regulators the stewardship commitment of the industry and as an illustration to assist others to complete their plan.
This will likely be the most important collective initiative the Texas Golf Course Superintendents will ever do for themselves. Our level of success will be determined by the commitment from all.
We are all in this together, so please contact LSGCSA if you have any questions regarding this process. One of the Directors will be happy to contact you to provide assistance.