Potential pollution risk in natural environment of golf courses: an example from Rusovce (Slovakia)

Abstract

The objective of the article presented herein is to highlight the specific issue of the protection of water sources in the vicinity of golf courses. Currently we have experienced the construction of a large number of golf courses, which are often found in areas where the protection of natural groundwater resources is needed. In this article, limit conditions are specified, which could be used in construction of other golf courses in the world, where there is a potential threat of contamination of groundwater resources. The issue is demonstrated on a case study in the area of a water resource, Rusovce. A major concern of golf courses is the fact that in an apparently clean environment of these anthropogenic structures contamination occurs, resulting from the maintenance, and the current legislation does not address this specific group of areas. These are particularly dangerous substances derived from fertilizer and turf protection, in particular the use of pesticides (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, acaricides, e.g. nematocides, and related products, such as growth regulators used for plant protection). The results of the modelling at the water source, Rusovce, show that the combination of negative factors (for example, the groundwater table level close to the surface along with extremely high precipitation totals or the areas flooding and the lack of a golf course bedrock sealing) the limit value of 0.100 μg/l of pesticides concentration in groundwater was exceeded up to 0.880 μg/l. Similarly, such excess may occur in the case of an emergency situation (for example, the spilling of the barrel with the pesticide), where the concentration of pesticides in groundwater may be increased up to 0.874 μg/l in standard conditions (without flooding with an average depth of groundwater table level beneath the terrain). But even under a standard level of security for the establishment and operation of a golf course and standard procedures for the maintenance of the lawn, the concentration of pesticides in the wells reached 0.0001 μg/l.