Sanctuary’s golf course receives best score for fertilizer, land management

During last week’s City Council meeting, one of the items on the agenda was an update on the status of the Sanibel Golf Course Fertilizer & Lake Management Recommendations, a program aimed at improving water quality on the island. Through a voluntary series of Best Management Practices (BMP), including fertilizer and lake management initiatives, irrigation and fertigation practices and educational efforts at all three local golf courses – The Sanctuary Golf Club, Beachview Golf & Tennis Club and The Dunes Golf & Tennis Club – the city hopes to reduce the amount of impaired water bodies on Sanibel. “Managing stormwater runoff from golf courses on Sanibel is critical to ensure that fertilizer and other chemicals used to maintain turf do not inadvertently impact sensitive areas such as lakes, wetlands and coastal waters,” said James Evans, an Environmental Biologist with the City of Sanibel’s Department of Natural Resources. “While we realize that that each golf course is unique and was designed and permitted to function in a very specific way, all of the golf courses on Sanibel have the potential to discharge into natural waterbodies. As a result, the city has taken additional measures to ensure that water leaving golf course lakes meet the water quality standards of the receiving waters.”

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