A local water company has pointed to fertilizing practices at Wickenberg (Ariz.) Country Club as the cause of elevated nitrate levels over the past two years. But Dave Hess, the club’s new owner, refers to a University of Arizona study that cites the probability of the kind of fertilizer his club uses ever getting down to the water table as being “somewhere between slim and none.” He, and possibly the club’s Superintendent, will attend a December 16 public meeting to discuss the issue.
The use of fertilizer used at Wickenburg (Ariz.) Country Club is being connected to the increased nitrate level found in water provided by the Country Club Acres Water Company, The Wickenburg Sun reported. A public meeting will be conducted December 16 to discuss the nitrate level in the water.
In a news release sent out by Country Club Acres Water Company, representative Diane Lewis said the company was experiencing elevated nitrate levels over the past two years.
“The maximum allowable nitrate level allowed for community drinking water is a level of 10,” the e-mail stated. “The water from Country Club Acres has been testing just below 10, hovering at 9 for most of 2021. If our water does exceed the level of 10, we would need to stop distributing water immediately upon receiving the lab report. We currently test our water for nitrates on a monthly basis.”
“Our Board of Directors had a past agreement with the Wickenburg Country Club that the golf course driving range would not be fertilized because the driving range is adjacent to the CC Acres well, and when fertilized, the resulting nitrates go directly into our ground water, especially after rains,” the company said.
The company said it and the golf course had worked together to prevent well contamination by any of the golf course fertilizers, The Sun reported.
“After all, the Wick. Golf Course restaurant and maintenance building receive their water from the Country Club Acres Water company also,” the news release said. “In 2010, Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality sent a Notice of Violation to the Wickenburg Country Club. The NOV was closed on 5/9/2012 after the golf club implemented BMPs [best management practices] to mitigate any discharge from the golf cart washing area.”
But the company claimed “the new ownership of the Wickenburg Country Club Golf Course has not upheld this agreement since they took over ownership.”
Country Club owner Dave Hess told The Sun last week that was not the case.
“All I can say it is very complicated, very complex,” Hess said. “They’ve made these charges over the years. We’re testing the wells on the golf course and they are fine. … We hardly use any solid fertilizer anymore. It’s all foliar. We spray it on the leaves and it is absorbed into the plant that way. It doesn’t hardly go into the soil anymore.”
He told The Sun the golf course was “working it continually.”
“We’ve got records of every bit of nitrate we put down in the fertilizer,” Hess said. He cited studies by the University of Arizona that said the probability of that kind of fertilizer “ever getting down to the water table was somewhere between slim and none.”
“It’s a tough problem,” he added. “We’re not ducking it in any way. We really need professionals to figure this one out. Most of these kinds of things are resolved with water issues with filtration systems and cleaning up water that way.”
Country Club Acres Water Company said it reached out to Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality “which monitors our water levels and was provided assistance by staff hydrologists with ADEQ,” The Sun reported.
“They have done an extensive investigation and testing of the water samples taken at Country Club Acres well site,” the release said. “Water samples were sent to various labs to test the nitrate origin. Nitrates come from two main origins: fertilizer or septic waste. Labs were able to determine nitrate origin by isotopic analysis, and sucralose tests. When both of these tests were done by multiple labs, the determination is that our water nitrate levels are most likely from fertilizer.”
Hess said he would like to hear more about how the water company determined the high nitrate level was likely from fertilizer, The Sun reported.
“You’ve got horses stabled right above their wells up there,” he said. “For 50 years, that fecal matter, you would think there was a good possibility that it’s coming from that. They’ve somehow eliminated septic systems. That’s something I’d have to learn more about, too. Those septic systems up there are 50-60 years old. Usually systems last about 30 years, then they have to be replaced. There’s been a few of them that have been worked on, but most of them are original.”
The release said the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality hydrologists “would like to come to Wickenburg and present their findings to the Board of Directors of Country Club Acres Water Co. and to the homeowners of Country Club Acres, who are directly affected.”
“We would also like to invite board members of the Wickenburg Country Club and its management and owner, Mr. Hess,” the company said. “The Town of Wickenburg Town Council is also invited, as this aquifer also provides water to the Town of Wickenburg, which has several wells that could be affected.”
Hess told The Sun he would be at the meeting.
“We may have our golf course superintendent there as well,” he said. Hess told The Sun the superintendent was certified to use the applications at the golf course.
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