The WaterSOLV™ Solution at Horseshoe Bay in Texas
"Rey Gomez was looking to kill two birds with one stone: deal with the freshwater mussel shells gumming up his irrigation heads and improve the lake water quality serving those 45 holes. He first heard of HCT's WaterSOLV™ from one of his vendors, a former superintendents at Desert Mountain in Scottsdale." - Hal Phillips, April 22, 2024
Thanks to a chemigation system, Gomez has been able to reduce Horseshoe Bay's dependence on lake water by 30%.
Our WaterSOLV™ Program is thriving here at Horseshoe Bay. Hal Phillips; managing director of Mandarin Media, Inc., and former editor-in-chief of Golf Course News spoke with Rey Gomez, the GCSAA Class A superintendent and director of agronomy at Horseshoe Bay Resort, TX, and HCTLLC Principal Todd Eden about their unique approach and impressive triumphs.
We encourage you to read the full GCM article and below are just a few excerpts we couldn't help but share. We're honored and grateful to assist Rey and Horseshoe Bay achieve their turf goals.
Photo courtesy of The Club at Horseshoe Bay Resort
"'Having to clean literally hundreds of sprinklers a day is no way to be efficient. It was also just a terrible job for the crews. I was, like, there has got to be a better solution.'
That solution turned out to be a chemical solution and chemigation system that dissolved the shells into a mush that passes, without incident, through the irrigation system. As a game-changing bonus, the same hydrochloride formula Gomez now injects — via that chemigation capability — has also enhanced the porosity of his soils. He also believes it diminished localized dry spot, curtailed his fertilizer and wetting agent use, and reduced his consumption of lake water by 30%.
In the three years since installation, Gomez, a 26-year GCSAA member, has achieved and experienced all this with an added layer of perspective: He can observe what he spends today on water and inputs for those 45 holes, then compare those figures to what he spent pre HCT WaterSOLV™ and their FS-1 Chemigation System.
However, because only 45 holes at Horseshoe Bay are treated with the WaterSOLV™ product from Scottsdale, AZ based HCT LLC, Gomez can also lay those results beside what’s happening on the other 27 holes across the street, which have not been treated with the same program solution. Not yet, anyway.
'We have a company that manages our lake system, the Lower Colorado River Authority, and we buy our water from them,' explains Gomez, a sitting board member with the LCRA Water Conservation Incentive Program. 'So, I don’t need to estimate this sort of thing: I pay for my allotment, which used to be 1,475 acre-feet per year. Last year, for those 45 holes, I only used 968 acre-feet. And we were in a drought.
We pay for water out of the lake, so we saved 30% right there, and that’s been a consistent thing the last three years. That last two years have been some of the worst drought summers I’ve experienced here in Texas, and I’ve worked here my whole career, 25 years. To be able to show that kind of water savings overall? Without being asked or mandated to reduce usage? Well, that’s just so important. It shows we are responsible, as a facility and a neighbor.'
'We had a supers meeting south of Austin yesterday,' Gomez said in early March. 'I’ve mentioned what I’m doing with the chemigation to a bunch of those guys. People are starting to use it, too. I’ve got two colleagues who have just started with the WaterSOLV™ — one in San Antonio, another in Hutto, Texas. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say.'” - GCMOnline.com
Horseshoe Bay is located just outside of Austin, TX featuring three golf courses designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. and was named one of the “Top 100 Golf Resorts in North America” by Golf Magazine.
While water and vegetation issues are universal their causes are complex and specific. That's why we created our own soil and water testing matrix to create custom prescriptions for our customers that are aimed at solving the source of problems, and reducing the need not only for wetting agents, sulfuric acid, gypsum and manual aerification, but reducing the need for our chemistry as well. Most of our long term users are on maintenance programs using just 1-6 ppm of a custom percentage of each product injected directly into their irrigation system. From turf to wells to agriculture, WaterSOLV™ is challenging conventional water and soil treatment practices and solving problems previously thought to be manageable at best.
HCT's purpose and privilege is providing sustainable and cost effective solutions to the chronic problems that plague soil health in the world of water and agronomy. We consistently reduce water demand 15% and increase crop yields 18% and more. When you treat water ‘well’ with WaterSOLV™ you increase efficiency, decrease costs, increase yield, improve pore space and add oxygen chemically. We can show you how to restore soil infiltration and soil operability just by treating your water and for substantially less than you're spending now.
