Please may I correct a fundamental misunderstanding, which informed the tone of the article about Marlborough Golf Club’s avoidance of the hose pipe ban. The article praised Marlborough Golf Club for using ‘their own water’ abstracted from ‘their own borehole’ and stated that doing this was good for the environment. I challenge that.
All water that we use in Marlborough and much of Swindon is abstracted from the same natural aquifer. Marlborough Golf Club have taken a short cut to that water by drilling their own borehole into the aquifer, so they no longer have to buy it from Thames Water. The negative environmental impact on water resources is the same. They are accessing the same water that we all get in our taps, just without the added chlorine that makes it safe to drink. This is the same groundwater that feeds our chalk streams through the summer. Abstracting groundwater is damaging to fragile chalk streams like the Kennet and Og, particularly when they need it most during this hot, dry summer. Marlborough Golf Club are not ‘respecting the community by not using what for us as Thames Water customers is fast becoming a depleted resource – water……’, they are watering the golf greens with a precious resource and the more they use the quicker the river will dry up.
I certainly agree that Rick Bodenham, Chair of Greens at Marlborough Golf Club should be praised for his intention to investigate ‘how to best capture the thousands of litres of rainwater that fall on the Clubhouse roof each year”.
In a typical year the golf club could harvest around 438,600 litres of water from its roof, which otherwise would go down the drain to the sewage treatment works. ARK would be very happy to work with the Golf Club to help them achieve this ambition.
Abstraction from groundwater is bad for rivers, regardless of who drills the borehole. Rain water harvesting is good, providing water for irrigation so we can leave water in the aquifer to feed our chalk streams. An added bonus is that it keeps rain out of the drainage network so reduces sewage pollution from overloaded drains too.
I am not suggesting that any one is acting illegally, but we all share the same water resource and every drop any of us use has an impact on our local rivers and streams.
Yours,
Charlotte Hitchmough
Director, Action for the River Kennet
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