Three water storage reservoirs will be installed at a gold club near Amersham next year.
The reservoirs at Harewood Downs Golf Club will collect drainage water for reuse across the course.
They will be constructed between the second and ninth holes, near the recently renovated clubhouse, and will store up to 19,500 cubic metres of water.
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Matt Mayfield, general manager at Harewood Downs Golf Club, said: “As a golf club and as a business, we have a responsibility to do everything in our power to preserve and protect the environment, and one of the biggest areas any golf club should look at to do so is their water consumption.
Harewood Downs Golf Club (Image: Andy Hiseman)
“Investing in building these reservoirs is a huge step for us, but it will result in a major reduction in our resource usage and carbon footprint.
“We’re excited to make the switch to recycled water and play our part in this crucial moment for the industry.”
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The reservoirs will collect drainage water from around the site and recycle it for use on the club’s greens, tees, and approaches, and eventually the fairways.
The project was approved by Buckinghamshire Council earlier this year, with construction set to begin in April 2026.
Water use remains a major environmental challenge in golf, with courses worldwide consuming billions of litres each day.
The industry is increasingly turning to recycled water as part of efforts to reduce environmental impact.
Harewood Downs Golf Club (Image: Andy Hiseman)
Once the reservoirs are operational, Harewood Downs hopes to eliminate its reliance on mains water for course maintenance.
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In the proposals, which were approved in April, the club said: “Climate change is affecting everyone across the world and whilst the political drive is for everyone to make lifestyle changes, there is also a high level of importance when determining any means to make changes to safeguard businesses and for golf, where the primary provision is to provide a recreational and sporting facility for the local and wider communities, the ability to store their available water goes a long way to assist with managing the effects of climate change as well as safeguarding the playability and viability of the golf course, thereby retaining the recreational facility as a whole and reducing the need to draw upon a precious water resource from the local authorities.
“A number of golfing bodies, such as the Sports Turf Research Institute and the major golfing bodies; the R&A and England Golf, are advocating the need for golf clubs to look at measures to harvest water by sustainable means during the wetter and inclement times in order to become less reliant on the use of town mains water when irrigating the golf course during the spring and summer months.”
