The Golf Club
Open for play in 2000 the number 1 ranking Gapyeong Benest Golf Club, located in South Korea, is a prestigious Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course. The beauty of the rolling greens are maintained by irrigation from several beautiful lakes and ponds.
But it wasn’t long before the lakes became choked with red and green algae that was the result of run-off from the greens and fairways that were fed with fertilizers. These fertilizers increased levels of nitrogen and phosphates in the water which then triggered the algal blooms.
The Algae Problem
With the lakes being both a beautifying element within the golf course landscape and necessary water storage for irrigation purposes the over-growth of algae was causing several problems:
An increase of TSS (Total Suspended Solids) and decrease of BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) so the water was unhealthy
Lowering of the oxygen levels of the water as it slowly suffocates
Inhibiting the growth of wanted water plants by shading them
Clogging of the water pumps
Dead or dying algae causing odors, and
Looking ugly
The problems were exaggerated with higher temperatures and lower than usual rainfall.
Common Algae Controls
Chemical control in the form of herbicides and algaecides, copper sulfate and chlorine bleach are methods that have been used in the past but these had undesirable consequences of their own.
Using fountains to aerate and mix the water increased normal biological activity, and decreased the algae growth a little.
Mechanical removal of the algae was very high on manpower.
The use of non-toxic biological products in lakes and ponds has become very popular recently because it is natural and involves no use of herbicides or algaecides, but this involves an ongoing cost and maintenance. So a non-toxic, all natural alternative with no ongoing cost or maintenance requirements was chosen instead.
The SofterWater Conditioners Algae Solution
The solution was a very simple one. Install two ‘Softer Water Conditioners’ into the lake as a non-electrical, non-chemical, catalytic water treatment. By treating the water in this process it disassociates the chemical bonds of the heavily mineralised water. This in turn removes the nutrients the algae feeds on and the algae dies – quickly. The algae is then removed from the lake and the true beauty of the natural clear water soon returns.
The Results
Well, as you can see, the results speak for themselves. A once heavily polluted lake with algal blooms was returned to pristine condition within a very short period of time. One of the SofterWater Conditioners remains in the lake to provide ongoing water treatment.