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Assessment of surface water quality on three eastern North Carolina golf courses
Author(s) -
Ryals Scott C.,
Genter Mary Beth,
Leidy Ross B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620171007
Subject(s) - environmental science , surface water , water quality , pesticide , atrazine , chlorpyrifos , irrigation , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental engineering , agronomy , ecology , engineering , geotechnical engineering , biology
The golf course industry has become increasingly aware of potential problems related to pesticide and fertilizer movement from soil into surface water and groundwater. Recently, the industry has started to change application practices and pesticide formulations and to participate in routine monitoring studies. Three southeastern North Carolina golf courses agreed to participate in a surface water quality study to determine the movement of fertilizers and related pesticides into surface waters. All three golf courses have ponds that provide irrigation water, from which samples were collected every two weeks. Each course has a sandy loam soil and adjoins wetlands, saline marshes, or elevated water tables. The data indicate that impact to the surface waters from the courses was minimal. Of the four pesticides (atrazine, chlorothalonil [Daconil®], chlorpyrifos [Dursban®], and 2,4‐dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and two nutrients (nitrogen and phosphate) surveyed, only 16 samples exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's health advisory levels. All analyses of the samples collected from the outflows of the courses were below their detectable levels.