The Impact of Golf Courses on Stream Water Temperature

Golf courses are an increasingly prominent feature across the urban landscape. Most courses contain streams that pass through the course grounds and have the potential to chemically, biologically, and physically alter these streams and their aquatic ecosystems. This study assessed the impact of five golf courses in Greenville, South Carolina on stream water temperature. Courses were selected that had continuous, tributary and lake free reaches that passed through the golf course grounds. At each course, stream water temperature was measured at 5 minute intervals from July – October 2008 just upstream and downstream of the course. Under baseflow conditions during the period of record, the sites downstream of the courses exhibited (1) elevated stream water temperatures (on the order of 3 – 4 °C during the afternoon hours) and (2) increased diurnal temperature ranges (1 – 4 °C larger) compared to their upstream counterparts. The observed temperature differences between the upstream and downstream sites at each course were primarily due to the lack of riparian cover along the golf course reaches. The magnitude of the temperature differences among the courses was largely a function of stream discharge. Although the impacts of these temperature modifications on the ecology, biology, and chemistry of the stream system were not assessed, the changes are large enough to be of ecological concern. New golf course guidelines that recommend or require the retention of sizable vegetated buffers along stream banks that shade the streams may be necessary to help protect the health of these aquatic ecosystems.