The Springs Golf Club
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Services
Project summary
- Sustainable water management
- SuDs
- Water and wastewater infrastructure
- Water harvesting and recycling
- Water treatment
STRI was engaged by The Springs in 2020 to create an inventive solution to reduce water usage on the course. The golf club had recently been purchased by Darwin Escapes who began a significant investment plan across the entirety of the club, with the golf course itself being the first beneficiary of the investment. As a result of the strong sustainability ethos underpinning Darwin Escapes, they engaged STRI to design a new water management system for the washdown facility on the golf course in order to improve the water security by reducing water usage and increase sustainability.
the
challenge
The club used roughly 250L per wash on their mowers, buggies and other machinery, with washes taking place roughly once every day throughout the year.
Often, older washdown facilities do not re-use wash down water, resulting in large water use over the course of a year. Inappropriate systems can also drain straight from the site of the cleaning, with harmful material often entering the drainage system such as grass clippings and pesticide residue. This can cause blockages in the drainage system, pollute waterways and cause algae blooms.
the
solution
The new sustainable water management feature designed by STRI would re-route the water used at the washdown facility to a reed bed rather than the existing method of dispatching the water directly to the drainage system. The reed bed would act as a sump, meaning that the plant life in the bed becomes a natural filtration system for the water by breaking down the grass clippings and pesticides prior to the clean water being pumped back to the washdown facility for reuse, as opposed to conventional reed beds whereby water is drained into a stream.
the
results
- The Springs has since been awarded GEO certification – a highly regarded sustainability distinction that is only awarded to 2% of UK golf courses
- Perpetually recycling water means that water use is minimal and almost no mains water is used for washdown. The only time mains water is used is to top up the water levels of the reed bed in hot weather
- Water use for washing has reduced by over 90% – roughly 80,000L of water saved per year
- Reed bed is aesthetically pleasing, in addition to aiding biodiversity
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