Case Study: Water Reuse At Bodega Harbour

By Marcus N. Allhands, PhD, PE, Orival, Inc., Englewood, NJ

The Links at Bodega Harbour in Bodega Bay, CA is located just an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge. This Scottish style links has whitecaps from the roaring Pacific Ocean as a backdrop to the lush green grass of the course and a deep blue sky overhead.

Densely manicured turf, as highly desired on golf courses today, requires vast amounts of water to replace moisture lost to the atmosphere through evapotranspiration and to the surficial aquifer by percolation. Historically, this water came from the same surface or ground water supplies utilized for potable needs. With the growing population and industrialization of areas such as Northern California, human and recreational water needs start to compete. While The Links is known as one of California's premier golf courses, the general public may not know how this course is "green" in more ways than the obvious. Conservation minded management uses highly treated reuse water from a municipal wastewater treatment plant to meet the high water demands of actively growing turf. Along with noble actions come secondary problems.