Marvel's Gray Wins "Intelligent Use of Water" Award from Rain Bird

Rain Bird has named Christopher S. Gray Sr., GCSAA Class A superintendent at Marvel Golf Club in Benton, Ky, as the recipient of the 2008 Intelligent Use of Water Award.

Gray has been extremely proactive in developing and implementing innovative water conservation programs both on and off the golf course. Most recently, he has led the development and implementation of a very unique wastewater recapture program in which all storm water and household wastewater generated by the homes surrounding the golf course is captured, treated and pumped into the course's irrigation retention ponds where it is used to irrigate the course.
 
"I believe it is very important to use water as intelligently as possible and it is our responsibility as an industry to commit to finding alternative sources of water to meet the needs of golf courses," said Gray. "We need to leave this world a better place for future generations. None of us wants our children to have to worry about where their water is going to come from."

Harvesting more than 14 million gallons of reclaimed water per year, the innovative system eliminates the need to pull water from the local water district or nearby Kentucky Lake for irrigation purposes and significantly reduces the risk of any lake contamination from the use of pesticides and fertilizers on the golf course.

"Beyond water savings, the system has proven to be beneficial in a number of ways as it helps keep Kentucky Lake clean, and significantly reduces the amount of energy used by the course as we no longer need to pump water out of the lake," added Gray.

Rain Bird will present Gray with a check for $10,000 in acknowledgment of his contributions toward protecting Earth's most precious resource at the Intelligent Use of Water Film Competition, Oct. 11, 2008, in Los Angeles.  For more about The Intelligent Use of Water, visit http://www.rainbird.com/iuow/.

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