Sustainable water management

This manual is based on general knowledge of soil and plants, but also on new information on turfgrass water use and quality. From 2009 through to 2011 several field trials were carried out at the Norwegian Institute for Agricul- tural and Environmental Research (Bioforsk) Turfgrass Center at Landvik, Grimstad, SE Norway. A major finding in these trials was the excessive water consumption by turfgrass having unrestricted easy access to water. This new understanding of the close relationship between water availability and water use provides major scope to save signifi- cant amounts of water through improved irrigation management practices.

Irrigation is considered to be a difficult subject in the field of crop science. Water availability affects plant growth in many ways. Not only plants, but even growing media and natural soils are affected by drought and irrigation. There are currently no technical solutions that can replace your role as the golf course irrigation manager. To be able to irrigate properly, you must know the different parts of your course, and you must take the time needed to plan your irrigation, implement it and monitor the impacts.