Water

Green Machine Water Treatment Facility
Conserve School, Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin
Conserve School, a private, non-sectarian college preparatory boarding school for grades nine through 12, is set on 1,200 wilderness acres and functions as a living laboratory for the study of wildlife and habitats.  As an Audubon Signature Program member, the school has incorporated innovative environmental designs, green buildings, and conservation practices.  A unique water treatment facility for the campus named the “Green Machine” filters 13,000 to 14,000 gallons per day of wastewater and prepares it for reuse in irrigation.  Unlike typical municipal systems, this one incorporates several large tanks of helpful bacteria, plants, snails, and fish that thrive by removing contaminants from the water.  Lessons in applied biology and chemistry, however, do not go to waste, as students study and monitor the Green Machine’s living systems.

Specially Designed Wetlands Treat Golf Course Runoff
Raptor Bay Golf Club, Estero, Florida
In March 2002, Raptor Bay Golf Club won certification as the third Audubon International Gold Signature Sanctuary golf course in the world. To protect water quality in the created lakes on-site and the water bodies downstream of the project, including Halfway Creek and Estero Bay on Florida’s Gulf Coast, approximately 22 acres of phytozones, or small wetland pockets, were constructed to treat runoff from the golf course. The phytozones are characterized by a wide earthen berm that separates a shallow pool from the main body of the lake.  Each is constructed to receive runoff directly from the storm water drainage system or from swales around the lakes. Once the runoff is discharged into a phytozone, it is detained before flowing into the main body of the lake.  The phytozone temporarily stores and slows the movement of the runoff and therefore promotes settling of solids and attached pollutants.  Vegetation planted in the phytozone takes up and filters dissolved nutrients.  The phytozones at Raptor Bay are sized to treat runoff from smaller, more frequent storm events, which have the greatest potential to degrade water quality.  Preliminary water monitoring results have indicated that water quality is good and that the phytozones are functioning effectively.  Phytozones also have the added benefit of providing habitat and feeding areas for wading birds and other wildlife.  Results from the wildlife monitoring program at Raptor Bay have indicated a substantial increase in the variety of bird species on the property.

Water Quality Monitoring
Eagle Valley Golf Course Environmental Group, Vail, CO
A group of thirteen golf course superintendents in Vail, CO, banded together in 1997 to form the Eagle Valley Golf Course Environmental Group.  The group has developed an innovative water quality testing program that is helping to ensure good water quality in this environmentally-sensitive, high mountain valley.  The Environmental Group monitors nutrient changes in the stream waters on area courses each year to determine any golf course impacts and provide a feedback loop to superintendents about the effectiveness of their best management practices.  The project is the collaborative effort of area superintendents, aided and supported by Colorado State University’s Cooperative Extension Office; Continental Analytical Services of Salina, Kansas; Eagle Valley High School; and Audubon International.  The project presents a model for future collaborative programs nationwide.

Schuylkill Watershed Education
Audubon International and the Philadelphia Water Department, PA
The Schuylkill River supplies drinking water to 1.5 million people in the City of Philadelphia and surrounding suburbs.  Charged with its protection, the Philadelphia Water Department employs innovative solutions to preserve and protect local waterways and watersheds, including promotion of voluntary environmental stewardship as a means to protect drinking water quality.  As part of this effort, it has partnered with Audubon International to present a series of seminars to golf courses located in the Schuylkill watershed.  The full day seminars include half-day presentations and a tour of Audubon certified golf courses. Ace Golf Club, a Silver Signature project in Lafayette Hill, hosted the event in 2004.  Skippack Golf Course, a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, hosted the 2003 presentation.  In 2005, Audubon International plans to expand its work in the Schuylkill watershed by working in continued partnership with the Philadelphia Water Department, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to involve schools and youth in watershed-wide environmental stewardship and education.

Pond Improvement Project
North Shore Country Club, Glenview, IL
Golf courses can improve their water features by incorporating various components of natural wetlands and ponds.  North Shore Country Club, a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, undertook a major pond improvement project in 2002 to stabilize shorelines and prevent siltation, as well as enhance the beauty and wildlife value of its pond.  The pond banks were heavily fortified with yardwaste compost, a soil amendment used to help stabilize the soil, grow shoreline plants, and absorb nutrients or other potential pollutants.  Erosion control fabric was employed to buffer wave action and water level fluctuation.  Areas in play were seeded with Red Top grass to serve as a shoreline buffer.  The course also created small bays with rock-outcroppings and “safety shelves” to serve as spawning beds for fish (photo).  The enhancements improved both aesthetics and water quality.

Protecting Drinking Water in New Jersey
Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA)
BTMUA began working toward certification as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary in 1991.  It began by replacing chemical pesticides, de-icing agents, and petroleum-based fertilizers with organic and other environmentally safe products.  BTMUA's goal was to prevent runoff from carrying any pollutants into the Forge Pond Section of the Metedeconk River, where the Authority draws all its water.  Another action was to implement an Integrated Pest Management program, which uses "good bugs to eat bad bugs" and avoids the need for pesticides.  In addition to using bugs to control other bugs, Brick Utilities also installed a variety of bird houses to attract more species that feed on pests like mosquitoes.